Duo
shrugged and moved back to where his cloths laid, taking his time as he
tried to slip the undershirt on.“Look
Tro-man, I have no idea what’s going on and seeing as you talk about as
much as Heero… Well unless it’s to Quatre that is… I’ll have to wait a
good forty or fifty years before I get the full story from you.So,
don’t mind me if I get out of here and find someone a little more talkative.If
nothing else, I can at least get Wufei to tell me all of the mistakes I
made.”
He
stopped fighting with his undershirt as he felt a light hand on his shoulder.“Duo.Everyone
agreed it would be best if you got your rest here.”
Duo
shot Trowa a dark look, clutching his shirt angrily, “Everyone huh?Don’t
I get a say in this?”
He
was more than a little surprised at the force behind Trowa’s ‘No’ and it
must have shown because the gree-eyed pilot cleared his throat and Duo
could have sworn he saw a blush tainting his cheeks.“Duo
you’ve been out for a week.Sally
had nearly pronounced that you were in a coma and that you’d never wake
up.”
Duo
laughed harshly as he went back to trying to get his undershirt on.“Betcha
that little news brightened everyone’s day.Too
bad I had to go and wake up and ruin everyone’s fun.”
“Don’t
talk like that!”
Duo’s
head snapped up sending a wave of dizziness spiking though his head and
once again it was Trowa’s strong arm that kept him upright.Once
more he forced himself to stand up, eyeing Catherine who had apparently
just entered.“Why shouldn’t I,
it’s the truth?”
Catherine’s
eyes flashed in anger.“It is not
the truth.Quatre was here until
Iria dragged him away to rest and go to a Wedding and Heero was here for
three days until he got a mission.And
Wufei just went on his usual meditation run.And
Trowa hasn’t left your side for more than four or five hours ALL week.”
Duo
eyed her suspiciously, “Why would he do that?”He
laughed again but it was a bitter laugh, “It’s not like he has a crush
on me or anything.Now will you
get out of my way.”
Catherine
glared at him.“Are you going out
in your shorts?”
Duo
glared right back, grabbing his cloths, “Yes!”
A
soft voice stopped him.“Sally wants
to look you over before you go.”Looking
up Duo was surprised to see the amount of concern he saw in Trowa’s eye.
Biting
his lip he shrugged, “I guess I may stay…”
“May
stay?!Look kid, you are going to
stay.Too many people are worried
about you…”
Duo
whirled to face her.“Look why…?”He
stopped short as his eyesight blackened.He
didn’t remember falling but when he reopened his eyes (he didn’t remember
closing them) he was on the floor, his head in Trowa’s lap and a wet cloth
on his forehead.
“Trowa?”His
throat and mouth felt like they were full of cotton balls.He
struggled to sit up but a bronze hand came out of nowhere and gently but
firmly, pressed him back down.Sifting
his eyes, not daring to move his head, he smiled crookedly at the owner
of the arm.“Wu-man, where’d you
come from?”He coughed slightly
and was startled to see that the Shenlong pilot’s eyes were wet.“Wufei,
are you crying?”
He
was expecting the Chinese pilot to yell or rant or something but he was
ill prepared for the tiny smile and the soft, ‘baka’.
Duo
would have questioned Wufei’s actions but he suddenly felt himself hoisted
into the air.Without thinking he
put his arms around Trowa’s neck to keep from falling.“Trowa!Put
me down… I can walk by…”His mind
dimmed for a second and his vision once again darkened but he fought it
and managed to hang on.
Feeling
someone brush his bangs from his forehead he fought harder and was back
to reality in time to hear a heated argument between four voices he’d grown
to know as well as his own.He would
have tried to sit up but after what had happened to him, he figured that
would probably be a bad idea.So
carefully he turned his head to take in his fellow pilots.
Heero’s
fists were clenched, “Of course I care about him Wufei, he’s my best friend,
but if we take him to a hospital it won’t do any good except to let OZ
catch him.”
Wufei
literally growled, “Best Friend?!Yah
right,Yuy.You treat him worse then
anyone else.You probably WANT him
to die!”
Quatre
bravely stepped in-between the warring parties, “Please stop.It’s…”
Almost
immediately they turned on him.
“Why
did you leave?”
“You
always say he’s like your brother Winner, would it have been so terrible
to miss your sister’s wedding?”
Before
anyone could continue Trowa spoke up quietly from where he stood.“If
anyone is truly to blame, it’s me.I
was supposed to cover him and I did not.”
Silence.
It
grew so thick in the room that Duo did the only thing he could think of.He
sprung out of bed, a grin on his face while his mind repeated ‘bad idea,
VERY bad idea’, over and over again and his lips said, “Hey guys it’s SO
nice to know you care.”
None
of them moved but when they did it was Wufei and Heero giving him dark
glares, Quatre a concerned look and Trowa, actually rushed to his side.
“Duo.Sally
said you have to rest.”He shook
his head at Trowa’s words.
“No.”
Heero
actually growled like an animal, but Duo pulled away from Trowa to walk
up to the soldier and poke a finger into his chest.“Pain
be damned!There is no way in Hell
I’m going to let the only four people, who I care about and who happen
to be alive at the moment, go ahead and kill each other over someone as
stupid as I am!I don’t give a shit
whether I live or die and neither should you.We’re
soldiers and up until now the only one I even thought cared about me was
Quatre.The rest of you I THOUGHT
were smart enough to not give a shit, but I guess I was wrong.”
Silence
again, but this time, from the looks on the other’s faces it was from shock.
Quatre’s
hand covered his heart.“Duo you
don’t mean that.”
“Yes
I do, Q.The world would be a better
place if it’s never heard of Duo Maxwell.”
“Don’t
say that.”
Once
more he looked over at Trowa, the ‘silent clown’ who NEVER displayed so
much emotion.In fact no one except
Quatre really did.Frowning slightly
he moved over to the windowsill, and eyed them all wearily.“What’s
gotten into you guys anyway?”
Wufei
folded his arms over his chest defiantly, “What are you talking about Maxwell?”
Duo
sighed, “I’ve been hurt before, all of us have, so what’s with the personality
enhancements?Why the sudden display
of worry for me when none of you except Quatre ever showed any concern
when I was hurt before?”
Trowa
spoke quietly, “You’ve never been hurt as badly as you were and none of
us thought you’d wake up.”
“THAT
is no way for a soldier to live!”
Heero
nodded in agreement with Wufei’s statement.
Duo
felt the change he usually felt during battle.His
whole body seemed to cool and everything seemed to come into sharper focus.It
was what he referred to as ‘Death Mode’ or Shinigami; basically a survival
tactic he’d gained as a child on the streets.“Ah,
I see.”His voice was low, deep…
deadly.“You saw it happen to me
and it made you realize it could happen to you too.So
you were forced to admit you’re afraid of something.You
aren’t concerned about me, you’re concerned about yourselves… if I pull
out of this okay, it means you have a chance to as well.”
Any
pain he’d been experiencing was forgotten as he moved back to the chair
with his cloths and pulled on his white undershirt, ripping the stitches
in his arm as he did.Before anyone
could move he was dressed in his priest garb once more.Without
a backwards glance he left the trailer, not bothering to slam the door,
he was too far beyond that…
His
senses were so heightened that he heard the soft, hurried footfalls a few
yards behind him and he merged with the shadows and waited until his tracker
was right next to him before jumping out and pinning him to a nearby tree.His
violet eyes narrowed as he looked into green eyes, but his mind was released
from his ‘Death Mode’ state when firm lips covered his in a firm, passion-filled
kiss.A quick tongue gently urged
his mouth open before playing with his own in a way that made him groan.
In
disappointment Duo felt the lips pull away.But
Trowa’s soft words forced his eyes open.
“Duo,
the reason I was worried, wasn’t because I was afraid for myself.I
was afraid for you.So were the others
but for different reasons.”Trowa’s
hand rose to caress his cheek softly.“Quatre
feels for you as a brother would, Heero is your best friend and Wufei both
respects and feels protective of you, almost as a father would at times.”
Duo’s
heartbeat quickened slightly, “And what about you?”
Tenderness
was the only word to describe Trowa’s next kiss.“I
care deeply for you, but how deep it goes I’m uncertain.”
Duo
grinned crookedly, remembering how often he’d wished the Heavyarms pilot
would even LOOK in his direction.“Tro-man,
I think I love you… but in this day and age no one REALLY knows what love
is so… I can’t be certain…”He pulled
away slightly, “I should go apologize to the guys.I
wasn’t exactly being fair, after all you guys are about the only ‘real’
family I have.”
He
barely took a step in the trailer’s direction when he collapsed, only a
few things really registered.It
was like sleeping with his eyes open.He
was dimly aware of Trowa carrying him back to the trailer, slight commotion,
Sally’s voice, Iria’s, Heero’s, Wufei’s, Quatre and a warm hand never leaving
his shoulder.
He
knew he’d fallen asleep because he felt himself wake up.Whether
he’d been out for a few minutes, hours, days or weeks he wasn’t sure but
as his eyes opened he found himself able to admire a sleeping Trowa.
But
not for long, because as if he sensed Duo’s eyes on him he woke up, blinking
emerald eyes that Duo suddenly knew he could happily drowned in.Smiling
softly he squeezed the hand that lay in his own, “Good Morning.”
Trowa
sat up, the sides of his mouth quirking upward.“I
could get used to that.”
“What?”
“To
waking up next to you and hearing ‘Good Morning’ from your lips.”
Grinning
he pulled Trowa down for a simple kiss until a polite cough in the doorway
caused him to pull away and eye the four people at the door.“Hey
guys, Sally.Nice to see you.”
Sally
smiled as she moved to his side.“Welcome
back to the land of the living Duo.How
are you feeling?”
“Tired,
but not too bad.How long have I
been out?”
“A
couple of days but you’ll be fine now that the worst is past.That
is if you stay in bed and rest.”
Before
Duo could challenge Sally’s words Trowa spoke up.“Oh,
I think I can keep him in bed, whether or not he’ll get any rest is something
I can’t promise you.”
Duo’s
jaw dropped and his cheeks colored.“I…
Tro…uh…”
Wufei
laughed.“At last, Duo struck speechless.Miracles
do happen.”
