Kracken
Disclaimer:I don't own them and I don't make any money off of this.
Warning:Male/male sex, graphic, violence, language, attempted NCS.
Soldier Boys
Sequel to Recovery
Interlude
Duo didn't have time to think about being naked. There wasn't time to dress. Heero himself was only in his shorts. Modesty was not a luxury when troops bent on capturing or killing terrorists, might be storming into the building. As Duo flew through the air, he spared a moment to hope that Heero still had his clothes packed and then he couldn't think of anything else except how to land without killing himself.
Only five feet, Duo thought, a ridiculously small span to cross. He could already see that he was going to sail easily over the metal railing and he tried to tuck in to avoid the support bars of the opposite fire escape. Piece of cake he thought, until his body refused to respond as quickly as he needed it too. It was then that he knew, as the rusted metal platform came rushing towards him, that he was going to land very badly.
Duo slammed into something that grunted and was soft instead and then he went down in tangle of limbs, not all of them his. He reacted immediately, training not giving his surprise or injuries any quarter as he thrust an elbow into the gut and face of his rescuer as hard as he could manage. Then he was panting and blinking, trying to orient himself even as Heero made the jump and bent to make sure the body underneath him wasn't going to get up again.
Duo's lifesaver was a middle aged man in a bathrobe, pajamas, and slippers. He had a newspaper scattered to one side and a spilled cup of steaming coffee. A chair in one corner of the fire escape, a few plants hanging on the support poles, and the open window, told the story of a civilian just about to have some quality time to himself on his fire escape balcony.
"Poor guy," Duo panted.
"Status!" Heero barked.
"Does it matter?" Duo held up his arms. "Move it, Yuy!"
Heero made an obvious effort to lock down his emotions and then his face was the one that Duo recognized. It was as hard and as blank as stone; the one that told Duo that Heero was in complete mission mode.
Heero picked Duo up. Duo felt blood dribbling along his skin, but he refused to look down at his stitches as Heero peered cautiously through the open window, scanned an empty apartment, and then lowered Duo inside so that he was sitting on the carpeted floor. He joined Duo and closed the window behind him.
The apartment was very warm. After the cold outside, Duo shivered convulsively as his frozen body thawed and his wounds began to tell him just what a bad idea being thrown through the air had been. He was thankful when Heero pulled clothes out of their duffels and helped him put them on.
As Heero dressed as well, Duo tucked his braid down under his coat and threw on a baseball cap. Pulling it down low over his unusual eyes, he was ready to go when Heero was, but Heero took precious moments to pack Duo's wounds with what was left of their bandages. Taping it all tightly in place, he then zipped up Duo's coat over the bloodstains. "Carrying you will be too suspicious," he said.
"Agreed," Duo replied. "You'll need to put me down once we reach the street. We'll need to blend in quickly."
"Parking garage, lower level," Heero suggested as he picked Duo up and headed for the front door. "We'll get a car from there, abandon it several blocks up, and take a cab."
Duo was limp in Heero's arms, gathering what strength he had for what he knew might be an impossible task, walking out of there. "Risky," Duo said and the main reason they had avoided it so far. Oz loved roadblocks and spot checks. "I wonder how they knew we were in that abandoned building?"
Heero's frown deepened, but he was matter of fact in the answer he gave, "Getting you into the building with our supplies and bags, even under cover of darkness, presented many opportunities for someone to see and report us. It was unavoidable."
It was still early. The building they were in was old and didn't seem to have too many tenants. They passed only one person, an old man. Heero heard him coming and had time to put Duo on his feet. Duo was able to laugh and make some jokes about 'early birds' while the person passed them with a city bred penchant for avoiding eye contact. Duo slumped immediately afterward, as white as death and shaking, but Heero had him up in his arms again almost immediately and was walking again. When they took an elevator down into the parking garage, he leaned against the wall and bent his face close to Duo's, letting Duo see, for a moment, how really scared he was for Duo's health.
"S'okay," Duo murmured even as he tried to fight his way out of a numbing red mental haze. "I'm still with you."
The elevator reached the parking garage floor and Heero began reluctantly putting Duo onto his feet. The site that greeted them as the doors opened, though, stopped him. Trowa was leaning against a steel support beam in the badly lit parking garage. Dressed in a black turtle neck and jeans, he looked deceptively relaxed, a gleam in the eye that peeked at them from underneath his long bangs. He raised one hand, a pair of underwear dangling from his long fingers. "Forget something?"
"Trowa? What the hell...," Duo looked at the man blearily and then slumped back against Heero. "I hope you got a way outta here, one where I don't have to walk."
"Did you trip the proximity detector in the other building?" Heero asked sharply.
"Yes," Trowa told him, straightening and looking slightly chagrined. "You hide them very well. I was trying to avoid panicking you."
"We didn't panic!" Duo growled.
Trowa snorted. "That would be why you left things behind and why the man across from your apartment is unconscious."
"Heero had a plan!" Duo argued weakly.
"How did you find us?" Heero wondered, suffering his own chagrin.
"Likely locations," Trowa replied with a shrug. "Wu Fei is searching some other sites and Quatre is preparing a bolt hole for us. Oz locked down the city. None of us were able to leave. We decided to search for you and regroup. We'll have to lie low until Oz satisfies itself that it isn't going to find any rebels."
Heero was still confused. "How did you find us so quickly once your reached the building?"
I searched three apartments with likely escape routes. Your apartment was my first try," Trowa was smug now, smiling slightly. "It wasn't hard to guess where you were going once I discovered that you were gone."
Heero was scanning the parking garage while Trowa talked. There were only a few cars and no attendant. He chose a likely vehicle, but asked, "Did you have any transportation in mind?"
"No," Trowa told him as he flicked the underwear at them. It landed unerringly on top of Duo's stomach. "It's much safer taking public transport," he continued. "They have checkpoints in every section of the city for passenger cars." He eyed Duo. "We won't be inconspicuous on a bus though, if Duo can't walk."
"I'll walk!" Duo snapped, wading the underwear up and stuffing it into a pocket. "I'm not compromising the mission any more than I already have."
"You'll compromise it much more by passing out on a city bus," Heero told him. "We'll take a car and abandon it as close as we can to our rendezvous point."
"Sure, make sense," Duo grumbled.
Heero nodded to a dark blue coupe. "That one."
"Just the right amount of boring," Duo said as they approached it and Trowa popped the lock with ease. "It looks like an old lady's car."
"As long as it doesn't look like a terrorist's car..." Trowa muttered as he leaned in and worked on the steering column. He dismantled several security features and then started the engine without a key.
Heero opened the back seat door and slid Duo inside. He piled his coat on top of Duo and said, "Stay low and rest as much as you can."
"It isn't so much a decision, Heero, as a need to pass out," Duo
groaned. He wanted to stay alert in case there was trouble, but the leather
seat was soft and he had gone far and beyond his strength. When the car started
up and Trowa turned on the heat, he couldn't help slipping away into unconsciousness.
_____________
Duo awoke and looked blearily around him, saying in a very faint voice, "Let me guess, Quatre picked this place out? Jeez! Why don't you just put targets on our foreheads?"
"They're searching the lower city, not the high rises," Quatre explained, his voice coming from Duo's right. "There's nothing wrong with taking advantage of that."
"And no one noticed you moving in, someone carrying me in, and the fact that a bunch of teenagers are now living in a..." he squinted at the opulent appointments around him, "A five star apartment without any adults around?"
"Wealth silences many people," Quatre told him briskly. "Now, don't worry about security. This is one of the Winner corporations executive suites. We have the entire top floor. All that you need to do is heal." He paused to check an IV line and a bag of solution suspended above Duo's head.
Duo blinked to clear his eyes. The bed was soft, the sheets good, and the air was warm. He hadn't had all of those things together in a long while. It was a great temptation to accept it. He struggled against it.
"If I have to put drugs in your IV line to keep you still, I will," Quatre warned. "I assure you that the Oz soldiers here seems to believe that terrorists only inhabit middle class or poorer sections of town. After studying their search pattern, we all concluded that taking up residence here was the best plan of action. There is the danger of people questioning our presence, but having been the child of a wealthy man, I can attest that it isn't unusual for children, like myself, to spend a great deal of time alone."
Quatre's voice turned bitter and he made an obvious effort not to continue along that vein. He finished adjusting Duo's medical equipment and then he finally met Duo's eyes. He looked exhausted. "If there is anything that you want, I'll get it."
"Peace, a family, a nice home, " Duo replied, "revenge, my Gundam, and something to drink. Is that asking for too much?"
Quatre gave him a sad smile. "I think I can manage some water. Can I get back to you on your other requests?"
Duo smiled back, amused. "You mean, you're going to try to get me the rest?"
"Isn't all of those things what we're fighting for?" Quatre wondered.
Duo went pensive and nodded. "Yeah, it is. I guess water will do for now, Quatre. keep working on the rest, K?"
"I will give it all of my attention," Quatre promised with a chuckle and went to pour some water into a glass.
"So, is this room all mine?" Duo wondered.
Quatre gave Duo the glass and helped him steady his hand enough to drink it. Duo took a few swallows and then sank back as Quatre replied, "Everyone has their own room. This floor has many suits, a gym, a sauna, a whirlpool facility, and a solarium."
Duo's eyes had widened and he looked at the room again. He felt out of place and outclassed. He didn't like the idea of being alone in a large room and in a strange place. It went against everything he had been taught when he was younger and on the streets.
"Where's Heero?" Duo asked almost defensively and Quatre gave him a smile. "What?" Duo retorted. "Can't I ask how one of my fellow terrorists is doing?"
Quatre's face screwed up. "I prefer being called a Freedom Fighter."
"Whatever," Duo replied dismissively and then touched his sheets, liking their softness and asked again, "So, gonna answer my question?"
"He's fine. He's working out with Wu Fei in the gym, I believe," Quatre chuckled.
Duo felt a sting of disappointment and something he didn't want to name as jealousy. "Yeah?" he replied. "So, how did you get stuck with 'Watch Duo' duty?"
"I didn't 'get stuck' with it," Quatre assured him. "I forced Heero to leave your side long enough to shower, eat, and stretch his muscles. He's been glued to your side since you were brought here."
Duo felt an intense rush of pleasure and he couldn't keep the blush off his face. Quatre saw it and laughed. "Duo, why don't you just relax? You know I won't criticize or make fun of you."
Duo pulled the blanket up under his chin and looked every where but at Quatre. "Even if Heero was a girl, I'd still be...." He tried to find the words to explain his feelings and couldn't. He said instead, in exasperation, "It's just hard for me, Quatre, for a lot of reasons. Let's just leave it at that."
"I'm here if you want to talk about it," Quatre assured him.
Heero came into the room just then, relieving Duo of the need to reply. Heero was wearing a one piece, black spandex outfit and he had a towel draped over his sweaty neck. He looked like he had worked himself hard, his hair damp and his face flushed. His blue eyes went straight to Duo and he strode to Duo's bedside, looking down at him in concern. "You're awake," he said unnecessarily. "Status?"
"Like my Gundam ate me and shit me out again?" Duo groaned. When he saw Heero's expression tense minutely at the crudeness of the reply, he tempered his next words, which weren't much better, "Sore everywhere," he amended, "Headache. That's just the good stuff. The rest is pretty much like one step up from dying."
Heero checked Duo's IV lines and touched his forehead briefly. "Quatre should try and get a doctor. If you have an infection-"
"Stop right there!" Duo snapped, but he was too weak to give it any force. "We're not going through this again. I get better or I don't on my own."
Heero didn't argue, but he didn't look happy either. He said, "I think being able to rest, and getting proper food and medication, will be enough."
"Now that some frickin' doctor isn't setting me up to die, that's all I really need to heal," Duo assured him. "I'm a tough kid from the ugly streets, Heero. I've survived a lot worse."
Heero pulled a chair close to the bed, checked the medical supplies on a side table, and then began to sit down.
"Uh, Heero?" Duo said, stopping Heero in mid motion. Heero straightened, puzzled. "Your not going to sit here and like... stare at me, are you? 'Cuz I'm just going to sleep and I feel weird knowing you're just... sitting there."
"You may need help. You shouldn't be left alone," Heero told him. "None of us have a mission until we escape from here. I don't have anything required of me at this time."
"Help?" Duo snorted. He looked over at the table within easy reach of his right hand and said uncomfortably, "I have a pot to piss and throw up in. A tube is feeding me. I have water. What are you going to do?"
Heero glanced around the room. Quatre had left and Duo blushed knowing that the pilot of Sandrock had decided to be tactful and leave them alone. Satisfied that they WERE alone, Heero finished sitting down and said firmly, "When the war permits, I will not pass up the opportunity to be with you and to love you. If that isn't something that you want, then tell me now." His voice was stiff, braced for Duo to hurt him. Duo didn't blame him. Heero knew how uncertain and confused their 'relationship' was making him.
Duo sighed and relented. Since he was only doing what he really wanted to, which was to let Heero sit with him and keep him company, it was very easy to give in. "Okay, okay!" he said, gruffly trying to cover up his happiness. "You can stay and stare at my handsome self, but only on one condition!"
Heero frowned, naturally cautious. "What is that?"
"That you take a shower first!" Duo groaned and put a hand over his nose. "You've been working out and you stink, man!"
Heero stood up quickly, face flushing, "Of course," He agreed. "I wanted to check on you before I did that. I wasn't expecting you to be awake already." He headed for the door and promised, "I will be back shortly."
Duo stared at the empty doorway after Heero was gone and it was a moment before he realized that he was grinning and that he was feeling a wave of pleasure. "You got it bad, Maxwell!" He mocked himself, but he kept grinning anyway.
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