Kracken
Disclamer:I don't own this and I don't make any money off of this.
Warnings: Male/male sex, violence, language, graphic.
Tiger Lilies
1x2
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"So, it's been....three years, two months, and fifteen days since the war, Mr. Maxwell. Any solid plans yet?"
Duo twisted his hands into the front of his blue t-shirt and sunk low in his chair. "I haven't found my... niche yet."
The man sitting behind the desk looked down his nose through a pair of glasses, his hands idly flipping through pages in a file. He had a shock of white hair and a thin, hatchet type face. He reminded Duo too much of Dr. G and his crew. Professionals always gave him the creeps.
"Scrap dealer, delivery man, short career in Preventers, construction, mechanic, programming, and lately... waiter. That wasn't your niche either?" The man looked up and his face was puckered in disapproval.
"Uh, no," Duo replied, remembering the disastrous results. "They're not pressing charges, though."
"That's... good," the man said cautiously. He cleared his throat, took a sip of water from a cup close at hand as if to steady his nerves, and then stamped Duo's file with a red stamp. "I'm afraid that I have to deny benefits, Mr. Maxwell. You are not proving to me that you are serious about finding a meaningful occupation."
Duo blinked, stunned. "How... How'm I going to pay the rent? I was... counting on..."
The man steepled fingers over Duo's file, "Mr. Maxwell, as your social worker, I have given you every opportunity, every lead, every reference within my power. You have blatantly sabotaged my every effort. To put it plainly, it is my opinion that you need motivation that being given a government stipend every month cannot provide."
"But..." Duo struggled to think of an argument. "I'm a veteran. You can't just-"
"Technically, you are not," the man replied cooly. "You were never enrolled in any government force."
"Oh," Duo stood up, dazed.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Maxwell," the man told him, but Duo knew that he wasn't.
"Yeah... I guess...," Duo mumbled, rubbed the back of his neck in confusion, and then gave a dispirited shrug. "Guess I better find some way to make a living."
I need to think this through, Duo thought, as he left the building and took a right into a small park. Lowering himself onto a bench, he slumped down and stared up at the ceiling of L3. "How am I going to finish if I have to hold down a job?"
He pulled out a notebook from his back pocket and pulled a pencil out of his braid. He began sketching a diagram with meticulous care.
"Just a few more months..." he muttered. "That's all I needed."
"Maxwell?" a soft voice exclaimed in surprise. Duo looked up, blinking, and saw Chang Wu Fei standing on the path that lead through the park. He was dressed in a long, black, oriental coat and white pants. His pony tail was as tight as ever and he still possessed the ability to look arrogantly down his nose at everyone around him despite his shorter height.
"Hey, Fei!" Duo said with a slow smile. "Haven't seen you in..." He tied to think and couldn't. "Awhile," he ended lamely. What brings you around here?"
"University Conference," Wu Fei replied, but his surprise had been replaced by confusion and then concern. "Maxwell? You're very pale. Are you well?"
Duo flipped closed his notepad. "I'm fine, Fei, just fine. I was... well, on business... it's great that we managed to run into each other. Did you come into the park to meditate?"
Wu Fei grunted, "No, there's a food stand that sells rice balls down this path. I was getting some for myself and some comrades. Would you like to have some as well? I have time to talk."
"Uh..." Duo floundered. He couldn't think at all.
Wu Fei stepped nearer, head cocking to one side as he narrowed eyes at Duo. "My friend, when is the last time that you slept or had anything to eat?"
Duo pondered those questions without any success. "Dunno," he replied stupidly. His hands gripped his notepad. "I've been... working on something. I sort of... have a deadline...."
"Ah, that derelict ship," Wu Fei guessed, managing to convey some disapproval. "Quatre said something about it. It was only bare metal, with hull breeches every few feet, I was told."
"It has potential... more than that since I've been working on it," Duo replied, resentful.
He shoved his pad into his pants pocket and levered himself off the bench. "Gotta go, Fei. I have to get back on it." He didn't expand on what 'getting back on it' was, but it sounded as if he were going to a job. He wasn't about to admit to Chang Wu Fei that he had been taking Government checks.
"Maxwell," Wu Fei warned and Duo felt hands grip his elbows hard. It wasn't until that moment that he realized that he had almost fallen flat on his face. Wu Fei pushed him back onto the bench and then sat beside him. "You need medical attention."
"No time for that," Duo slurred, but he was leaning heavily against Wu Fei's shoulder. "Gotta finish if I'm going to get my dream."
"Dream?" Wu Fei sighed. "I fail to see how you can have any dream if you don't take care of yourself." He sighed. "Yuy was right."
Duo felt a chill. "Yuy? Heero, you mean? What about?"
"He said that you were idealistic," Wu Fei replied as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed emergency. "He was always confused by it."
"Heero," Duo murmured with a smile as he slowly drifted down into unconsciousness, pillowed on Wu Fei's strong arm. "Should call him."
Wu Fei looked down when Duo's voice trailed off. He blinked. He hadn't known
that Duo and Heero were friends. After he called emergency, he told himself,
he needed to call Yuy and inform him of his friend's condition. "Damn him
for letting Duo get this bad anyway," he grumbled.
_________________________
"Dehydration, borderline malnutrition; he's under weight by at least fifty pounds. Looks like he was taking stimulants as well." The doctor looked over his computerized chart and then eyed Wu Fei curiously. "He lists you and Quatre Winner as his advocates. Have you noticed any depressed behavior on his part? Any physical complaints?"
Wu Fei frowned and refused to feel guilty. "He's kept himself out of contact with me for some months, but we've never spent any great deal of time together."
"Would Mr. Winner have any information?"
"I don't know," Wu Fei admitted.
The doctor made a frustrated sound. "I'll have to turn him over to the psyche ward then. Since I don't see any medical reason for his condition, it's possible he may be suffering from self neglect."
"I've called a friend who may know more than I do," Wu Fei offered. "Heero Yuy."
The doctor didn't look down at his pad, that familiar with it. "He's not on the list, I can't give him any information, or allow him to see Mr. Maxwell, until he's conscious enough to give his consent."
Wu Fei was confused. "Not on the list? Why..?" He put that aside and asked, "I'm his advocate while he is unconscious, correct?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then I give permission for Heero Yuy to be given any information or access he desires," Wu Fei ordered.
"All right." The doctor handed Wu Fei the pad and he signed the authorization with his thumb print.
"Chang?"
Heero was pushing his way through a crowd in the corridor. He was scowling darkly and dressed in a casual blue shirt and jeans. He eyed the doctor and then confronted Wu Fei. "What's this all about?" he asked. "You didn't say very much in the voice mail you left me."
"Duo is ill," Wu Fe told him. "I met him in a park near here and he collapsed. The doctor says that he has been dangerously neglecting himself. "
Heero looked disturbed at that news. "That doesn't sound like Duo. Nothing ever seemed to get to him. Why did you call me, though?"
"As his friend, I thought..." Wu Fei trailed off at Heero's confused expression, replayed in his mind Duo's words, and then flushed. "I think that I misunderstood something that Duo said. Forgive me for bringing you down here, Yuy."
"I haven't seen Duo since that ceremony at Quatre's, a few months after the war." Heero told him. "I don't know why you would think that we were friends." He turned to the doctor. "Is Duo going to be all right?"
"We have him on an IV and some liquid boosters," the doctor replied. "Once he's stable-"
Heero frowned sharply. "Stable? How serious is he?"
"He's not in any danger," the doctor assured him. "I meant nutritionally stable. Once we have his system pumped up with nutrients and proteins, we'll release him to the psychiatric ward. They'll test him for mental stability. If they clear him, they'll make sure he's given a proper nutritional plan and a case worker to check up on his progress."
"Release him," Heero ordered abruptly.
Wu Fei was as wide eyed as the doctor. "Yuy?"
The doctor raised one, critical eyebrow. "May I ask why?"
Heero growled, waving at the man's computerized pad. "Duo is a grown man. If he wants to starve himself, that's his business."
"If he wishes to be released, once he regains consciousness," The doctor replied primly, "that is his legal choice."
"Or mine, since he has me as his advocate," Wu Fei mused.
Heero was confused again. "Why did you call me if you are such close friends with him?"
"I'm not," Wu Fei admitted, "Though I have seen him more often than you."
"Have him released," Heero told Wu Fei firmly. "He's not a child, he's a Gundam Pilot."
"Perhaps we should speak with him first?" Wu Fei tempered. "He did seem all right when I spoke to him, but it is possible that he may need at least some counseling."
Heero checked his watch and looked as if it annoyed him "I only have twenty minutes before I have to get to a development meeting."
"I was supposed to be at a conference," Wu Fei told him ruefully.
"May I say, sirs," the doctor interjected, "That neither of you seem to know the patient very well. I suggest that you allow the hospital to care for him while you return to your... activities."
"You might, but we're not taking your suggestion," Heero growled back. "Show us where Duo is."
The doctor's face went tight and he nodded as he proceeded them into a side corridor.
It was clear that the doctor was being defensive. Wu Fei didn't blame him. Turning a patient out onto the street, in the dubious care of men who seemed perfect strangers, and who were making it clear that they were going to abandon him there, would have made anyone cautious.
Wu Fei couldn't imagine simply turning Maxwell out onto the street either and he wondered if that was Heero's plan. He tried to find an alternative as they walked and was surprised when Heero muttered, "Duo hated hospitals." He eyed the man and didn't think he was mistaken when he saw concern on Yuy's face. Maybe it wasn't Heero's plan to abandon him either.
"Mr. Maxwell!" The doctor exclaimed and Heero and Wu Fei hurried their steps to follow him into a room.
Duo blushed and turned away as he hitched up and zipped up his pants. His long braid swung at the motion. He already had his shirt on and it was obvious that he was getting ready to make his own escape. The IV lines were out, making bloody splotches on the white sheets of his bed, and a window was open.
"Thanks, doc, for whatever I'm here for, but I'm ready to go now," Duo babbled nervously. He bent to thrust his feet into his shoes.
"Duo?" Wu Fei said and knew that Duo hadn't seen them as he whirled in surprise.
"Hey, Chang!" Duo called back in puzzled delight, but then he frowned, blinked, and sat on the edge of the bed. "Uh... Heero? What..?"
The doctor stepped forward cautiously, put his pad aside on a table, and checked Duo's arms were the IVs had been removed. They had been bandaged with toilet paper, but they weren't bleeding. Duo pulled his arms away and stood again.
"S'okay! I know my way around wounds, doc," Duo grinned wide and gave the man a wink. "Duo Maxwell can take care of himself. Besides, Hospitals make me kind of... nervous."
"Sir, you really should stay and take the full treatment of boosters," the doctor argued. "You became unconscious because of your undernourished condition."
"Oops!" Duo replied sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck as he backed away. "One too many candy bars, I guess. I'll have to watch that. I promise to drink some orange juice and eat a steak, okay?"
"Sir..." The doctor began to argue again and then sighed. "As you wish, but at least let me prescribe some vitamins and protein enhancers."
"Sounds good, you do that," Duo told him and put his thumb print on a release the man brought up on his pad.
"They will be available at the front counter of the hospital," The doctor told him, but he said it in such a way that it was clear that he believed that Duo would never pick them up.
"Great!" Duo said with false appreciation as he began to walk towards the door. "Thanks!"
Heero and Wu Fei moved aside. Duo looked from Wu Fei and then, almost shyly, he dared a glance at Heero, before looking back at Wu Fei again.
"Guess I made an ass of myself," Duo said in a small voice. "Thanks a lot you guys. I really appreciate you looking out for me, especially..." He darted a minuscule glance at Heero and swallowed hard. "Okay, well, I'll take it from here and not darken your door again... or fall unconscious in it, until invited."
Duo walked past them and pulled a notebook out of his back pocket. Wu Fei could see him making notes with a blunt pencil before he turned a corner and was gone.
Wu Fei blinked, trying to make sense out of what had just happened. His entire day had been turned upside down and then the cause of it had blithely walked out of his life again."I think... I think one of us should go after him."
But Heero was already walking after Duo with long strides, expression intent.
Wu Fei made an exasperated sound. He thought, for a moment that he should follow as well, but then his intelligence finally reasserted itself. It presented him with Heero's look of concern and Duo's shy sideways glances at Heero. It put two and two together and that equation didn't include him.
Wu Fei sighed. "I suppose I have a conference to attend..."
_______________
"Duo!" Heero caught up with the ex Gundam pilot and fell into step beside him. It was easy. Duo seemed more intent on his notes than on walking.
Duo gave him another of those shy looks and then seemed drawn, almost against his will, back to his notes. Heero studied his profile as they exited the hospital and began walking down the city street. He was thin, Heero noted, and his eyes were shadowed. Other than that, Duo hadn't changed much from when he had been in the war. His shoulders were still well rounded, his chest was strong, his waist was slim, and his legs were still long. Heero had grown more mature looking than Duo, but not taller.
Was Duo married? Did he have a girlfriend now? Heero reasoned that, if Duo had either of those things, they would have been called, not him. Duo had always liked the girls, though, and had always flirted with them. It was something that had kept his one time war comrade in just that particular category; war comrade. After the war, it had seemed logical to distance himself from the man, to let his fascination with the Duo dim with the passing of time.... only it hadn't really dimmed. When Heero had received Wu Fei's message on his voice mail, fear for Duo's health had catapulted him into action. He had paid the exorbitant price for a city cab and had paid the man extra to break a few speeding laws getting to the hospital.
So here he was, with Duo, knowing that he was successfully keeping on his stone wall 'war face', but inside as eager as a boy to stay with Duo as long as he could manage. He tried to see Duo's notes, needing something to say, needing some excuse to keep walking with him. "That's...." Heero remembered then, Quatre telling him about a ship that Duo had been building out on the fringes of the colony. "..your spaceship," Heero ended lamely and then scowled and put his hands in his pockets.
"Yeah," Duo replied absently. "Almost done with it, too. Some more seals... a leeward hatch... some booster rings... some hull plating... oxygen reclamation system... pilot console... anti grav rotators..." he trailed off to scribble some more.
Duo had stated a list that comprised most of a space ship. Heero tried to remember when Quatre had told him about the ship... A year? Longer? If that was so, then Duo hadn't progressed very far.
"Have you named her yet?" Heero wondered.
"Tiger Lilly," Duo replied. He blinked, looked up with focus at last, and pocketed his notebook. He cracked knuckles and looked down at his hands. "Uh, Heero... I really wanna thank you for coming out to look in on me. I hate hospitals. Pretty stupid of me to take a dive and need one. I'm okay, though. You don't have to follow me around."
He was being dismissed. How long would it be until there was another reason to see Duo? Heero looked at Duo's thin face, his sheepish grin, and his eyes... his eyes were not matching his expression. They looked bottomless, lost, needy... They were asking him for something. Heero struggled. He needed a reason to stay.
A door opened behind them. Heero started and then noticed that there was a restaurant there. "Let me buy you lunch, Duo. We can talk... about your ship."
Duo looked stunned. "Ah.... okay... Sure thing, Heero."
Heero motioned Duo towards the restaurant. As Duo turned to enter, Heero found
himself smiling and couldn't remember the last time that he had done that.