Author's Note:

Hi there.

I kinda churned this fic out on a whim as I was reading along on the net the other day. It's a fic that I've wanted to do for a while, but the plot is so overdone, i had to work hard on it to put my own spin on things.

Please enjoy and don't forget to leave a review!

Mango, By Hikishi

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing so I'm gonna sulk for years to come.

Pairings: Slight 1x2, blink and you'll miss it.

Warnings: descriptions of vomit, Language

Genres: Friendship, General

MANGO

"What's this?" I asked, as I turned towards the kitchen table, holding a pint of milk in one hand and a funny looking vegetable thing in another.

I'd found it in the fridge, lurking amongst the apples.

The guys just gazed back at me in confusion for a moment. They could never get over my curiosity about fresh food. Sure, I knew an orange from a banana and knew now that apples came in different colours, but I was still a complete novice when it came to this stuff. The only fresh food I'd ever seen on L2 was pictures in magazines and books. It was way too expensive to ship stuff like that to L2 so unless you owned your own home there, there was no chance of seeing it in the flesh. If your job didn't pay well enough or you didn't have one, you took vitamins instead, way cheaper and mass produced.

I all too vividly remember my first encounter with apples. Howard had a bowl of them in the office on his ship and they had caught my attention immediately when I'd gone in there to get an update on my Gundam. I'd been so surprised to see them that I'd spent the entire time staring at them, wondering what they tasted like and visualising myself eating one.

I'd broken into his office later that evening and stolen three of them. It had taken me a while to work myself up to trying them, and I remember thinking at the time that I'd never ever tasted anything so cool and delicious. However within a few hours I'd developed a bad stomach ache and became sick. I'd gone to Howie and he took me to the medic's quarters for him to check me over.

The onboard doctor, a gruff, burly man who saw to all the first aid had checked me out thoroughly and asked me what I'd eaten that day. When I finally worked up the nerve to confess my fruit related crime to him, he'd frowned deeply and huffed at Howard.

"Stupid old codger." He'd rebuked sharply. "What made ya think ya could leave fruit where he'd see it?"

Howard looked perplexed and for a moment, I thought I was gonna be outed as an unreliable thief, but the medic spoke again to Howie, going slowly, as if talking to an idiot.

"L2 brats can't just eat fruit without bein' sick. Kid's stomach can't handle fresh food yet."

"Shit!" Howard had cursed, smacking his forehead. "I forgot. An' I just left it out there in front o' him!"

"Like offerin' a gallon o' water to a guy sufferin' from dehydration. Too much, too fast. He needs ta be weaned."

So I'd spent the night in the infirmary, and the bad stomach followed me for two days after that.

The next time I was back in Howard's office he'd called me to ask if I was feeling better, and I was disappointed to find the bowl of fruit gone. Howard took great pains to explain to me that he wasn't punishing me for my transgression. I asked him why he'd gotten rid of the bowl then, and he'd explained that I needed to get used to eating fresh food, or I'd make myself sick.

We'd had to start out slow. When I'd gone to the ship's mess that evening for dinner, the cook had placed a slice of apple on my tray with a clear instruction not to eat it until I'd finished my meal. I'd felt sad that I'd only get a small slice of the thing, but Howard came and sat beside me with his own meal and the rest of the apple my slice had been cut from.

"It's like I tol' ya before kid, you need ta get used to eating fresh food. I know it don't seem a lot right now, but the more'n ya eat it in little bits, the more you'll be able ta handle it."

Every day after that I got a slice of fruit with my meals and as snacks whilst I was working with the Sweepers. Oranges, bananas, apples, peaches, grapes and pears. Grapes were the easiest fruit to give to me, because you can pick each individual one off a bunch so I'd feel smug when I got about three or four on my plate. I also got some fresh vegetables as well, but not enough to set off my stomach. The other Sweepers seemed to think it was cute, my delight at such a simple thing they'd probably grown up around. It all had this unique taste to it, cool like summer, and bursting with flavour. So you can understand my interest when I came across a fruit I'd never seen before.

"What does it look like, Maxwell?" Wufei snorted, not understanding my question at all. He wouldn't. As a member of the Dragon Clan on L5, they'd probably had things like this. L5 is a rich colony.

Truth be told also, I'd been extremely careful to learn how not to speak with an L2 accent. People look down on you for that. So most of the time, the guys forget that's where I'm from. "Stupid question."

"Sorry." I mumbled under my breath sarcastically. "So," I began in a brighter tone. "Who bought it?"

We have an unspoken rule amongst the pilots: if you don't know who paid for it, don't eat it unless you ask them. This applies to odd foods found in the kitchens, because once Trowa had drank Quatre's special tea without asking and Quat' hadn't been happy to find he had none left afterwards, resulting in Tro-babe going out at two in the morning to buy some more. Thankfully, I'd never made this slip up, partly because Howard and G had told me to steer well clear of foods I didn't recognise.

I have an extremely bland diet. My body cannot handle rich foods and to this day, I've not tasted a curry. I have to be careful, or I'll get sick. I have a stash of ration bars and dried food in my Gundam for days when someone cooks something I won't be able to eat. I'm not even allowed to eat proper candy yet, too much of a sugar rush. I doubt any of the others notice that I drink low cal sodas or eat vegan chocolate. One day, I'll be able to have the real stuff. Until then, I can't have anything that'll send me up the walls.

"Heero bought it." Trowa told me shortly, and watched as my face fell. Heero? No way was I asking him. I would never get to try this fruit.

I sighed and placed it back in the fridge, and consoled myself with pouring a big glass of milk instead, going to the lounge so I could watch cartoons whilst I drank it. That's something else that was new to me. Cartoons. As I said, I'm not stupid. I know what things are, but have never experienced them. So what if it seemed childish for me to watch animation at fifteen, I'd never had a childhood, so I was making up for lost time now.

Eventually I fell into a light nap on the couch, not having slept well the last two nights due to the fact that I'd been on a mission at the time. I woke a few hours later to see Mr. Perfect himself walk into the lounge with that strange fruit and felt my stomach lurch. He was going to eat it? In front of me? Damn.

"….was asking about it." Wufei was saying as he took a seat in the armchair.

"Didn't seem happy when he found out it was yours."

"Why?" Heero questioned bluntly, shaving a bit of skin off with his jagged thumbnail. I continued to feign sleep and they ignored me.

"He's curious." came Quatre's voice from behind me and I tried to stay perfectly still. I didn't want him finding out I was awake. "I kind of got suspicious of Duo when he always found a way to miss my dish night and spoke to Professor G."

The bottom dropped out of my stomach. I'd been so careful!

"What, because he doesn't like your cooking Winner?"

"Because he can't tolerate any of our cooking, and whenever it's his turn, he just gets take out and nobody ever questions it. Well I did. Last week I spoke to G and he confirmed it for me. Duo is being weaned onto real food, he's never had it before"

"What? I do not understand." Wufei said shortly.

"Duo's stomach can't tolerate anything just above bland food and he has never learned to cook. He's an orphan from L2 guys, no matter how much he tries to hide that fact. He doesn't have any clue about fresh food, red meat and fish."

"Why didn't he tell us?"

"Embarrassment." Heero answered Wufei's question and I almost shivered. He was close to me now, and I was focusing very hard on staying 'asleep'. "Would you say anything?"

"I suppose not."

"Don't worry. I'm working on this." Quat' said as he got up and left the room. I'll let you know what I come up with."

I left the very next day for a mission and spent a week running through a jungle, getting shot at. I finally arrived at the new safe-house in my gundam, exhausted, hungry, slightly ill from infection and with minor injuries. Trowa met me in the hanger first.

"Hi Tro'" I greeted as I tossed my back pack over my shoulder, knowing I looked a little like a drowned rat. "Sorry dude, I'm dead on my feet. Can you point me in the direction of the bedrooms?"

"No. You need to eat first." He replied in that quiet but short way of his.

"Who's night is it?" I asked brightly, suppressing a groan. "If it's mine, sorry dudes, but you're on your own, I'm way too tired to cook-"

"It's Quatre's turn." He confirmed my fears. And he's been making us wait all day. He wouldn't cook until he knew your E.T.A."

Aw, man! How the hell was I getting out of this? I couldn't see an escape, so I dutifully followed Trowa to the kitchen. Quatre smiled when he saw me slouch in.

"Hi Duo, welcome back." I dredged up a grin in return. "Have a seat, dinner's almost done."

"Ah Quat, I'm too tired…"

"Nonsense. Sit."

I sat, and he set a glass down in front of me, followed by a plate of shepherd's pie. I looked up at him in trepidation. He'd obviously spoken to G. Shepherd's pie, was one of my favourite dishes aboard Howie's ship. I got confirmation when he set a plate of apple slices beside it and a glass of milk.

"Don't eat the apple until you've finished dinner." He admonished, and I kinda just….stared at him. He just laughed, and the others looked at me with sardonic grins. Except Trowa. He just stared back blankly.

"I…" Lost my voice.

"It's going cold Duo." Quat singsong and I carefully took a bite. They all watched expectantly.

"Thanks." I managed after a moment.

"No problem." As I continued to eat I glanced around the kitchen. I spotted a piece of paper taped to the fridge and turned cherry red. Duo's Diet Sheet. Quat' had asked for a damn diet sheet and G had given him one. Shit!

"Quat…!" My tone was full of dread. "Did you…I mean, did you really…"

"No." He replied gently. I breathed a sigh of releif. "Heero asked G." Suddenly I forgot to breathe. How do I pull air into my body again?

A hand smacked my back and I choked and coughed, then sucked in that precious oxygen. I turned, slowly, to face Heero. The perfect soldier just stared back intensely.

"Man, you really are perfect!" I exclaimed, not really knowing what else to say. His lips quirked ever so slightly and then the moment was broken. I was starving, and dove straight into my meal.

It only took me ten minutes to demolish what was on my plate and I ended up chewing the apples whilst half asleep. I think Quatre tried to take the plate away from me and I pulled it to my chest possessively. One thing I wouldn't give up as a Sweeper had learned once. I'd been falling into my dessert with exhaustion one night and he'd reached for the plate, only to end up with my flick blade resting lightly on his wrist. I wasn't anywhere near as bad now, but I still had to finish everything on my plate.

Heero murmured something and Quat's hand retracted. Then our favourite Japanese pilot shoved the dish into my hands and set a plate atop it to keep them fresh, before ordering me to take it to my room and put it on my bedside table whilst I slept, so I could have them when I awoke. I thought I mumbled a thanks at him, but couldn't be sure. He took me by the elbow and steered me to my room, making me deposit the dish on the dresser and take my shower, prodding me into my pyjamas and finally into bed. I snuggled down under the covers and smiled at the ceramic before passing out.

And wouldn't you know it, the next day I woke up to a quarter of that strange fruit and a piece of paper pinned to the cling film wrapping. There was only one word written on it in Heero's precise script.

Mango.

End Mango