Disclaimer: I don't own them and I don't make any money off of this.
Warnings: Violence. Rape flashbacks. Angst. GRAPHIC. Language. (It is very dark. You have been warned)
Support a starving artist, buy Kracken's book, The Storm, under Della Boynton, at Amazon.com. For those of you who already have, big hugs, kisses, and virtual pocky. Kracken is very grateful.
^_^
"You can stop killing him now, Heero," Duo whispered harshly. "He can only get dead once."
Heero backed away from the corpse of the Oz guard as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. The man WAS very dead, neck broken, larynx crushed, and... Heero hated himself when he saw what the object of his fury had been. He had lost control. He regained it with an effort, nodding once at Duo before moving into the corridor of the manufacturing plant the man had been guarding.
Duo looked down at the guard as he passed him, following close behind Heero. He noticed the damage as well. Instead of being outraged, he felt a grim satisfaction. It was gruesome, but far healthier for Heero to let out the aggression, built up by his near rape by Oz soldiers, than to hold it in and pretend it had never happened. Duo had already tried that tactic and he knew how ineffective it was. Sooner or later, the kettle full of anger and pain, boiled over and exploded. What did it matter to a dead man anyway, Duo thought, that his genitals had been used as Heero's punching bag?
They reached the manufacturing floor and slipped into shadows behind equipment. A few men were wandering about, checking the new shipment of mobile suits one more time before they were loaded onto a carrier to wreak havoc on the colonists. The guards were standing and talking, guns holstered and attitudes cocky. Even in their wildest dreams, they never imagined that anyone would be foolish enough to come into the very heart of their domain and try to stop their evil from being carried out. That cockiness was going to prove fatal for both them and their machines of death.
Duo handed Heero a detonator. There were two. He held the other one in a pocket of his tight fitting, black jacket. No matter what happened, the explosives Duo was about to lay were going to be blown, even if he was still carrying them at the time. The mission couldn't fail. The war would be lost in a day if those suits were allowed to be delivered. The colonists wouldn't have a chance against them.
Duo grinned. Shinigami gave Heero a steady look, ready to die and ready to kill as he died, but it was pure Duo who leaned in to seize a kiss from Heero's welcoming lips. "Together," Duo said softly as he ended the kiss.
"Even in death," Heero added solemnly.
Duo cocked his head, eyes sparkling. "Forever, in life or death," he finished and then broke away and stealthily began to hunt for the places they had carefully chosen to set the bombs in.
Heero followed Duo with his eyes, but his gaze flicked constantly to the guards, hating them, feeling the need to kill them, knowing he would if they so much as twitched in Duo's direction. He had his gun in one hand, trained on them, and in the other he held the detonator, ready to sacrifice his love for the sake of the mission and to keep Duo from getting captured and suffering what he had gone through not a few months before; brutality at the hands of Oz.
Duo was as limber and as agile as a monkey, slim body swinging and climbing in and out of the maintenance scaffolding surrounding the suits easily. His fragile appearance was deceptive. He had strong hands and stronger shoulders. He set each bomb with meticulous accuracy, never faltering no matter how far out on thin supports he had to walk or how far he had to hang by one hand while he set the charges.
Perfect, Heero thought, feeling a warm pride in his lover's abilities. That pride turned to consternation as Duo hooked knees around a scaffolding strut. Falling backwards, he hung upside down by those knees and twisted his body around in an extreme arc. When Duo reached to plant a bomb, Hero understood. The scaffolding had been partially dismantled in preparation to take that particular suit out for loading first. The walkway that would have given Duo access to the bomb site was missing. He was improvising in typical Duoesque fashion.
Two men came walking from the other side of the mobile suit, laughing, heads together as they compared check notes. Duo froze, one hand keeping him in position against the Gundam and his other hand reaching for his gun. It was an automatic gesture, one he stopped as soon as it was begun. There wasn't going to be a fire fight out of that place. There was only two ways to exit, by stealth with the bombs set to blow, or by detonator and death. Duo's braid swung as his head turned. His eyes found Heero's all the way across the manufacturing floor. He put a finger to his lips. Heero understood. Duo wanted a chance to extricate himself. He had a plan.
The Oz guards were beginning to pick up their gear and move towards the front of the huge metal doors. It was getting very near loading time. They didn't have much time left. The two men on the scaffolding were making their way down. When they reached the next level, where Duo was hanging, they couldn't help but see him. If they called an alarm now... Heero's hand was sweaty on the detonator. A few seconds was all he could grant the man whom he loved more than anything or anyone else on Earth or in Space.
Duo dropped. Heero's breath caught involuntarily. Duo landed safely on the scaffolding below him, rolled, and dropped another level. The vibration of his impact was hidden by the rumble of huge, metal doors, beginning to be rolled back, and the heavy tread of the two men above him.
Duo descended the entire scaffolding in that manner, taking hard impacts and slipping almost to his death more than once. He didn't slow for caution though. Duo knew as well as Heero that time had run out. When his feet hit the floor, he threw himself into the shadows. Heero ran to join him.
"Status," Heero whispered as Duo untangled himself from a backpack empty of bombs.
"Bombs set," Duo shot back. "Time?"
"Enough," Heero replied and Duo nodded. Enough time to escape if Duo hadn't hurt himself, Heero thought, as he took the lead at a pantherish run that was both stealthy, soundless, and swift. Duo followed, but he was lagging. When Heero exited the manufacturing plant and darted towards the cut in the fence they had made earlier, Duo was still several lengths behind.
Time. The alarm on Heero's watch beeped as he squeezed through the fence and kept on running. The first Gundam was being rolled out for transport. It had to be stopped at all costs, even though the price was their lives. Heero hit his detonator button, knowing he wasn't completely clear and knowing that Duo behind him, certainly wasn't. At the same time, Duo, still managing a staggering run across the tarmac, hit his detonator as well, knowing that he might catch the blast in the back and that Heero's retreating back wasn't safe either. One of them had to survive though, they both thought, in case the suits weren't completely destroyed.
Duo made the fence as the first bombs detonated. He felt something strike him hard across the shoulders and gouge into his ribs. Crawling through the fence on his hands and knees, heat lashed Duo's skin and more debris, some as big as cars, started falling to earth in groundshaking thuds all around him.
Duo crawled out on the other side. The fence caught some of the smaller debris with metallic pings as he threw himself towards the forest and the faint path Heero had taken. More bombs detonated and the suits themselves began to explode and catapult out of the warehouse.
A hard hand grabbed Duo by the collar and jerked him along the ground in a dizzying maneuver that had him twisting and flailing frantically. A metal shard stabbed into his calf. Another sliced him across a cheek. When the half of a suit came plowing into the ground, and passed him by smoking and gouting flames, Duo screamed involuntarily as the earth jumped and his insides turned inside out. He had a wild view of a darkening sky, faint stars, and then a huge chunk of suit flying toward him as if in slow motion. He tried to get his legs under him, warn his rescuer, whom he assumed was Heero, but it was already too late. Duo felt a sharp pain in his head, an explosion of light and blood, and then he tumbled into darkness.
A conversation was going on over Duo's head. Angry voices rumbled down into his subconscious, picking horrible memories out of the place where he had tried to keep them hidden away from even himself.
"Cut it off?"
"It's burned and full of mud and... vomit," another, more compassionate voice said. "I'll soak it and work the knots out. It will be okay."
"You know what I mean," the harsher voice said. "If we take him to a hospital, they'll recognize him instantly by that foolish braid. He's been on all the vid screens. He's the only one of us, besides Heero, that Oz knows by sight."
"Trowa-"
"Isn't a surgeon! He can't treat someone with severe head trauma. We don't have time to stand and worry about Duo's vanity! He may be in a coma. He may be bleeding inside of his skull. Get me the scissors and we'll do as you asked. We'll take him to a hospital."
"You don't understand! That'll kill him too! That braid means everything to him!"
The voices rose as the argument raged. A hand took hold of Duo's braid. He felt the tug on his scalp. It sent him screaming into Hell, memory opening like the bleeding wounds on his body. Another hand had hold of his hair, only his hair was loose, not braided, and it was much shorter. The argument, though, was the same.
"We'll get more money for him with that hair! Don't cut it!"
"I'm sick of washing it out! Look at it now, stringy mess full of-"
"Make him wash it then! He's old enough."
There was a chuckle as hands ran over Duo's body and pulled him close into a rough embrace. "Old enough for a lot of things," a voice said into his ear.
Tangled inbetween adult bodies on a worn mattress, Duo kept his eyes squeezed shut, wondering if he was going to die, hoping he was going to die, wishing more than anything for release of any kind from the pain and violation. The hand stayed knotted in his hair to hold him still and the bodies moved even closer as the other man laughed too and reached out for him.
Duo screamed as he arched off of his bed. Hands tried to restrain him, but he fought back. He lashed out with deadly force, eyes dazzled by light and surroundings that were different from his memory. His fists flailed the air as tubes and plastic lines jangled and tore from needles. Wounds reopened and some grew worse. His head throbbed and felt ready to explode.
"Do you want some water, Duo?" A gentle, familiar voice said. "I know you like coffee, but water is better for you now."
Confusion reigned. Duo blinked and shuddered, breath wheezing in and out of his lungs as he panted and threatened the empty air all around him.
"What kind of stunt were you and Yuy trying to pull?" Another familiar voice interjected. "The two of you looked like raw meat when we pulled you out of the truck. I don't even know how Yuy managed to drive. I've never seen such a sloppy operation!"
"Duo, take these pain killers," yet another, quieter voice said. "You can drink them with the water Quatre is getting for you."
Duo choked on a sob. Things slowly sorted themselves out in his mind. Painfully, he separated the here and now from the past, eyes focusing on Trowa on his right, Wu Fei on his left, and Quatre by the door, poised as if he were really going to get some water and not just saying so to bring Duo's mind back into focus.
"S'all right," Duo croaked as he collapsed back onto his pillows. "What h'ppened?"
Trowa very carefully approached and began rehooking the lines back into the needles in Duo's arms. "You were caught in an explosion. You and Heero were both covered in shrapnel and contusions. You have a very bad head wound and you've been unconscious for nearly a day."
"I thought we were dead," Duo murmured as he frowned, trying to remember, and then his mind came into sharper focus and he started fearfully. He dug a hand into Trowa's sweater. "Tell me!" he demanded. "Tell me Heero's all right!"
"Shut up and stop bleeding on everyone!" Wu Fei snapped back gruffly. "Heero's fine! He's sleeping in Trowa and Quatre's room."
Duo released Trowa with a sigh of relief, but it was punctuated by a groan as well. Now that his adrenalin was running out, the pain was coming back with a vengeance. Wincing, Duo lifted his blanket to see the damage for himself. He was almost head to toe bandages. What wasn't bandaged was bruised. It should have hurt a lot more. He looked at Trowa suspiciously and then at the hanging bags of solution by the bed. His practiced eye found the right one and he yanked out the needle. "No drugs. They give me episodes. I'd rather not kill my nurses."
Trowa shrugged. "Your decision, but I'll put it back when you start screaming." When, not if, Duo noticed and gritted his teeth.
"I don't need a damn hospital either," Duo growled.. "They'll FORCE the drugs on me. I might say something and jeopardize everyone." He eyed Wu Fei who was scowling right back. "I never thought that you would be the one to forget that and risk it, even to save my life."
Wu Fei glared, but he didn't say anything to that. It was Quatre who came to his defense. "I insisted, Duo, but only if Trowa couldn't stabilize you. Wu Fei was just trying to make the best of my... bad decision. I guess it was a bad decision. I can't help thinking with my heart." The blonde Arabian sighed and hung his head. "I guess I would have realized how stupid that decision was and stopped myself in the end. I know the sacrifices we have to make."
The room spun and grayed. Duo fought unconsciousness, wanting to make certain of several things before he allowed himself to pass out. "The mission was successful?"
"Yes," Trowa replied without hesitation. "We wouldn't be here, treating you, if it hadn't been. We would be out finishing up the job."
"Glad someone has their priorities straight," Duo hissed. He rubbed at his eyes. He couldn't clear them. The room was out of focus, everyone's faces frowning blurs. "If I get worse instead of better, remember those priorities, Trowa. Don't let Quatre get soft."
Quatre grumbled angrily. "Don't worry about me," he said seethingly.
Duo nodded to the direction of the voice. "Good. Sorry, Quatre. You know we're best buds and all, but..."
"I know," Quatre replied, softer. "It's okay."
Duo let go then and slipped into painless sleep with Wu Fei's words in his ears.
"Strap him down this time," Wu Fei grumbled as he touched a bruise along his face. "He almost snapped my neck."
"Heero, you are such a dick head!" Duo snarled as Wu Fei carried him into Trowa and Quatre's room. Heero was propped up on the bed, face bruised and eyes unreadable. He watched Wu Fei lower Duo into a chair beside the bed and felt a sinking feeling of trepidation when Duo impatiently motioned the Chinese pilot to go away as if he were a servant. Wu Fei scowled, grumbling something under his breath as he went away, closing the door behind him.
"I can take care of myself," Heero said at once. "You should still be in bed."
That hurt, but Duo didn't show it. "Take care of yourself?" Duo demanded. "How have you been doing that? You can't get out of bed and you've been using a bed pan. The guys told me that you won't let them close to you to even change your bandages. What the Hell is going on in that head of yours, Baby?"
Duo's voice had raised to a shout. It hurt his head and made the room spin. He bent over and took several deep breaths. "Duo?" Heero asked anxiously. "Please go back to bed and don't worry about me. If you pass out, I won't be able to help you."
Duo's eyes shot up and he straightened with an effort. "Did you say what I think you just said? Did Heero Yuy just admit that he couldn't do something?"
"My back," Heero admitted. "I compressed several disks getting out of the way of that chunk of flying mobile suit. I can't stand without my knees buckling."
Duo remembered the huge mass of metal flying towards them. He had been so certain that he had been about to die. "I didn't think you saw it. I thought-"
"We almost died, Duo. It was a very close thing," Heero admitted. "We both need to stay in bed and recover."
Duo nodded, mind still on that frightening memory. He snapped back to the present sharply and glared. "Yes, we both need to recover Heero. We both need help to do that. If I can let Wu Fei carry me without trying to slit his throat, I think you can do the same." When Heero didn't reply, Duo risked more pain by exploding in exasperation. "What is it, Heero? Damned pride? Can't you admit that you're human and that you can get hurt? Can't you admit that you need help?"
Heero still said nothing, cobalt blue eyes staring hard at nothing, hands gripped together on top of the blanket. His knuckles were white. Duo stared at them, trying to understand and unable to. The man he loved could still be such a mystery to him.
Duo carefully leaned forward and braced himself against the bed. He reached out to Heero and Heero tentatively took his hand. His fingers rubbed Duo's skin, his fingers, the palm of his hand. He brought it to his torn lips and kissed it passionately.
"I lost control," Heero said at last, looking at Duo's hand as if he were talking to it. "The pain... the weakness... I wasn't thinking clearly. I kept seeing everyone as an enemy."
Duo nodded grimly. "You stepped into my shoes for a little while," he said. "You had a taste of what my life is like. Now that you're clear headed, get back into your own shoes. Let the guys take care of you. You know that you can trust them."
"I heard you screaming," Heero replied, changing the subject and yet, Duo had a feeling that he wasn't really changing it at all.
Duo shrugged. "Trowa gave me some drugs. They made me stupid. I didn't know where I was when I woke up. I thought..." He stopped.
Heero sat up higher on his pillows, hissed in pain, and held Duo's hand tighter. "Tell me what you thought."
Duo half smiled. "So you can have nightmares too? No."
Heero was very serious. "Please, Duo, tell me."
Duo's smile dropped. He was silent for a long moment and then he replied simply, "Why?" Heero's grip was painful. Duo stared at it and saw Heero's hands on his tremble ever so slightly. "It was a nightmare about my pimps," Duo replied quickly, before he could change his mind. "They were fighting over whether to cut my hair off. They didn't like taking care of it. I woke up and Wu Fei, Trowa, and Quatre were having the same conversation. I freaked out. That's why I was screaming. I didn't know where I was."
Heero released Duo's hand and he crossed his arms about his waist, holding himself tight. He looked very vulnerable just then and Duo was becoming frightened. What was wrong with the man who had always been his rock, the person Duo had always trusted to be unfailingly strong?
"Those people are gone. On L2," Heero said. "Why can't you forget them? Why do you always have to be afraid?"
Duo had thought that Heero understood. To suddenly find out that he didn't was almost more than Duo could handle. He shook his head and sat back in his chair, hands hanging laxly between his knees. "They put a collar on me, Heero, like I was a dog. It had a tag with their address and the name... 'bitch' inscribed on it. I was just an animal to them. For more than a year they let men rut on me and every night, for more than a year, they made me sleep with them so they could get their sick little jollies too. Do you really think that I could ever forget falling asleep in their stinking arms and then waking up in them too? Do you think I can ever 'get over' being thrown back and forth between men like a piece of meat? My mind says, 'yeah, it's over and they're hopefully dead', but my body still cringes. My body still thinks someone is going to pin me down and do me. I still wake up screaming, feeling them touching me. Sometimes, Hell, Heero, sometimes I don't even have to be asleep to feel that. It just happens, feeling their hands.... kind of like a guy with an amputated leg swearing he can still feel it there. I can't forget because my body won't let me."
Heero had gone very pale. He nodded as if Duo had confirmed something for him. He seemed to change the subject, but, yet again, Duo felt that he wasn't as Heero said, "When I was trained, they raped me to make me immune to it, so that I wouldn't break under that kind of torture." His tone was brisk, matter of fact. "The men who did it... it wasn't personal. They didn't seem to enjoy it. It was just a... function. It never bothered me because... they explained it before it happened. I was prepared. I was ready to endure it. When we made love, I never once thought of that time. I wasn't afraid. I wasn't afraid of people touching me."
Duo heard the change at the end. He frowned and then suddenly drew into a ball, ignoring the agonizing pain it caused him. He buried his face against his knees and wrapped his arms about himself. "I don't want to hear any more!" he whimpered, hating himself, feeling weak, a coward, but he didn't want to understand what Heero was trying to tell him.
Heero went on though, relentless. "I've been avoiding you since I escaped from those Oz soldiers. I knew that it had affected me. They were brutal. It chipped my training and ... it wasn't impersonal, what they did. I wasn't prepared for it, the brutality, the way they acted, laughing and enjoying it. I suddenly knew why you.. why you do the things you do. I found myself doing them too, avoiding being touched or being close to the other pilots. Something bone deep inside of me won't be reasoned with logically. So, I'm asking you now. How do I deal with it? How do I..."
Duo put his hands over his head as if to shield himself from a blow. His voice had a hysterical edge to it. "Deal with what?! You told me nothing happened!! Nothing happened, Heero! Nothing!"
Heero withdrew, going guarded. His inner turmoil had made him reckless. He had said too much. His own need to overcome the debilitating fear he felt had made him forget the fragility of Duo's sanity. "They beat me and..., " Heero swallowed, trying not to lie. Duo would know, he felt. The young pilot's sense for that was too keen. "They tortured me, Duo. It was brutal. I can't compare it to what you must have gone through, but it did affect me. I can't- I can't accept that. I have to close the chink in my training that they created. I have to forget and not let it jeopardize my ability to fight and to deal with the other pilots. I can't let it affect how I treat you."
Duo was quiet for more than five minutes, huddling in his chair, trembling with fear and pain. Finally, he allowed himself to believe Heero, to retreat back into the world where rape hadn't happened to Heero Yuy, only a brutal beating that had left him sensitive to people.
"You must hate me," Duo said from the shelter of his arms. "I'm shaking like a girl; terrified. You must think... how can you even stand me? How can you want me when I sit here..."
Heero replied calmly, pushing his own fears and self doubt aside to do what he did best, comfort and help his lover; reclaim him from the nightmare his own weakness had tumbled Duo into. "You hung, upside down, off of a thin scaffolding support bar, to plant a bomb on a mobile suit two stories above a concrete floor swarming with armed Oz soldiers. You are the bravest man I know, Duo, and I could never not respect you."
Duo looked up then, mouth open slightly in shock. He found his tongue. "Really?" When Heero only met his gaze grimly, he found a smile. "Guess you wouldn't just say something like that to make me feel better," Duo guessed. "You're always too ready to chew me out when I screw up."
Heero nodded and then frowned, looking down at his hands gripping the blankets again.
Duo noticed, licked nervous lips, and then said, "Heero, you're the one that taught me to overcome my fear of you. Have you forgotten that? Desensitizing therapy, remember? You made me touch you, little by little, until it didn't make me react any longer. You made my body get used to it and to not expect to get hurt. Why can't it work for you too?" Duo eyed the side of the bed, the climb to Heero, knowing that Heero couldn't help him. "Can I... If I can get up there on the bed, you can touch me, okay? We'll just be together, not doing anything."
"Duo, " Heero began, thinking of how badly Duo was injured and how much it was costing him just to sit upright in the chair. He stopped himself before he uttered a negative, though. He needed to overcome the fear. He couldn't live with it. He had to defeat it. "Come," he said shortly in assent.
Duo nodded and made the climb. It was almost impossible. Duo nearly gave up, but he gritted his teeth and Heero risked more back injury to help him by pulling on him. Finally, Duo was lying next to Heero on the bed, the room going in and out of focus and his heart beating wildly from the pain. He waited for Heero's next move while he recovered.
Heero didn't move. He was lying against his pillows, arms wrapped about himself defensively again. Duo sighed and tried to think what words could motivate Heero. It was ridiculously easy.
"Heero, you are in a lot of pain, aren't you?" Duo asked.
"Yes," Heero admitted reluctantly.
"You're filthy too. You stink," Duo said with a wrinkle of his nose, knowing he wasn't much better. He, himself, was covered in medications, alcohol rubs, and antiseptics. Anything above a sponge bath hadn't been possible because of his stitches and bandages.
"Your point?" Heero wondered acidly.
"You know you need to take care of things. You're in pain and you are probably wild with discomfort," Duo continued logically.
"Yes," Heero replied, almost impatiently now.
"Yet you are stubbornly refusing help from the people who can give you what you need, who can help you."
Heero made an exasperated noise. "You are stating known facts."
Duo went in for the kill. "Known facts, yet you don't know what those facts add up to."
"And what is that?"
Duo met Heero's eyes, held them, and tried to make him understand. "If you can suffer so much NOT to be touched, not to let people close to you, then where is your strength to do just the opposite? At least you get a reward for it." He added, knowing how it would sting Heero's pride, "I let Wuffie touch me and carry me in here. It wasn't easy, not by a long shot, but my reward was seeing you. I think that was worth it. It's always been worth it." He drove his point home. "I hope you aren't going to tell me that there's something I can do that you can't?"
"No," Heero replied with a growl and then let out a long breath, "Little baka, you are-"
"The love of your life?" Duo chuckled.
Heero almost laughed, but his troubles wouldn't leave so easily. "I wish it were as simple as you are trying to make it out to be."
Duo went serious as well. "Heero..., I don't want to act like what happened to you was a little thing, but... I have let people close to me. I have stopped screaming when any man touches me. I have let you have sex with me. Because of your help and your love, I can do those things. Oz abused you, but, they didn't slap a collar on you, call you 'bitch', and own you for over a year. They didn't let other guys do everything imaginable to you, as some things you can't imagine." Duo swallowed hard, going pale, but he plowed on, determined to say what he knew he had to. "Hell, yes I'm still afraid, but I'm learning to make a life past it, learning to live with it, learning not to let it control me, keeping the people I care about away from me. If I can do that, after everything I've gone through, then you can too." Duo took Heero's hand in his. It wasn't trembling. It was rock steady. Duo's own hand wasn't so firm. "Take the first step, Heero. Don't chicken out on me now."
"They may have put a collar on you," Heero said quietly, "but they never owned you, Duo."
Duo smiled shakily. "Thank you," he whispered and then waited.
Heero slowly reached out and cupped Duo's face. As if he were giving Duo a thorough medical exam, and maybe he was in his mind, he touched every bruise, every wound, every bandage. It was as if he were discovering Duo's body for the first time. He had known rape, but he hadn't known that someone could be sadistic, could enjoy doing that to someone, could degrade a person so much. His training had fallen short of reality and it had failed him in the worst way. It was a revelation that he could only partially share with Duo. Heero had to keep his secret, for the rest of his life, he determined. Duo couldn't ever find out that the Oz soldiers had gone beyond brutality. It was his cross to bear, he thought, as he lifted Duo's gold cross aside and touched the pilot's pink nipples. They hardened under his fingers.
Duo pulled his robe closed over them and very carefully eased against Heero. He found a small spot, not covered by bandages, on Heero's chest and pillowed his head there. Sighing as if he had a found a new home, Duo closed his eyes.
"I'll never touch you unless you want me too," Duo whispered, the same words Heero always said to him.
"I want you to," Heero replied and caressed Duo's chestnut hair.
"And the others?" Duo persisted.
Heero paused, gritted his teeth, and then nodded. "The others too."
"Good," Duo chuckled. "Because you stink, Yuy!"
"So do you," Heero replied.
"Too tired now to do anything about it," Duo said around a yawn. "Let's rest and then we can find out just how brave you are."
"Never as brave as you," Heero replied in return and then let his eyelids drop closed as exhaustion, both mentally and physically, over took him.
Wu Fei had been waiting outside the room for Duo to call him. After pacing for an eternity, he finally swore under his breath and decided to take matters into his own hands. He had repairs to make on his Gundam and he didn't want to play nurse maid to Duo Maxwell.
Wu Fei gave a polite knock and entered the room. He stopped at once and flushed uncertainly when he saw the two pilots in bed together. When he realized that they were curled up and both asleep, Wu Fei felt a tension release inside of him he hadn't known was there.
Heero's odd reluctance to let anyone treat him had worried Wu Fei. It had seemed too much like Duo for comfort and Wu Fei had begun to wonder about Heero's sanity. He touched the new mark on his face, over topping a still fresh one. Duo hadn't allowed himself to be picked up easily. There had been a brief fight until Duo had regained control of himself. The braided pilot's strength of determination had always amazed Wu Fei. He knew what Duo overcame each time he allowed himself to be touched. If Heero had suffered something to make him as reluctant as Duo, then only Duo was capable of helping him get through it.
So much strength in such a little, loud mouthed package, Wu Fei thought, and found himself smiling warmly. He wiped it from his face in the next moment, composed himself, and then went to stand guard on the door. Those two needed time to sort themselves out, Wu Fei thought, and he was the one to help them have that time.
Quatre came from the stairs, looking at Wu Fei curiously. He frowned at Wu Fei disapprovingly in the next instant. "You didn't...! Wu Fei! Did you let Duo out of bed?"
"He is a man!" Wu Fei shot back. "If he wants to kill himself, that is his business."
Quatre started towards the now closed door. "This is madness! I'm going to put him back to bed!"
Wu Fei put an arm out and stopped the blonde Arabian. "No," he replied. "They are in bed."
Quatre blinked and then blushed furiously. "T-They are?"
"Yes," Wu Fei replied with a stone faced expression.
Wu Fei could see erotic thoughts running through Quatre's mind, his face turning red all the way to his ears. "Amazing!" Quatre finally breathed, wondering how two half dead pilots could even consider having a tryst.
"Yes, they are," Wu Fei agreed. "Give them their time."
Quatre nodded and then smiled at Wu Fei despite his worry. "Get you a chair?"
"Please," Wu Fei replied.
Quatre looked at the door and then said again as he turned away to fetch the chair, "Really amazing!"
Owari
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