Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Another Side ❯ A Kiss ( Chapter 2 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Violet_Nyte 
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Angst / Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 03.22.2003 | Pages: 5 | Words: 3.0K | Visits: 516 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Angst / Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 03.22.2003 | Pages: 5 | Words: 3.0K | Visits: 516 | Status: Work In Progress
LSE // 3-22-03
(Another Side - Chapter Two: A Kiss)
rated: PG13 - language, content
shounen-ai/yaoi
A Kiss
-
Feeling very much like he was just stuck in the eye of the hurricane,
Duo snatched a few minutes to himself in one of the impossibly
uncomfortably waiting rooms. For now, it seemed there were no more
forms to fill out and questions to answer. And Duo had to remember to
send Quatre a great big thank you card.
The hospital tried to find records for Heero, but beyond the
government's short file with much of the information left blank,
there was none. Which meant Heero had no insurance, and no family to
take care of the hospital bills. Fortunately, it had only taken a
quick phone call to Quatre to solve the finance issue, and Duo hadn't
even had to ask.
"Mr. Maxwell?" came a quiet voice, and Duo looked up to find a
not-so-young and smiling nurse looking down at him. She looked
friendly enough, but he thought for a minute she was going to kick
him out of the waiting room. Instead, she held out a strangely
familiar white envelope, "Doctor Haines told me to give this to you.
It's what we found on Mr. Yuy."
Duo blinked at her rather stupidly before reaching up to take it from
her. It didn't take long to figure out what he was holding. He looked
back up to the nurse with a look of shock.
"I'm sorry," she said simply, turning and walking away.
In his hands was the Christmas card Duo had sent to Heero. Which
proved Heero had gotten it after all! That irrational surge of joy
turned to stunned horror as Duo realized what it also meant. Hands
shaking, he took the card out of the envelope, staring for a moment
at the cheerful image of holly before opening the card.
"Hey Heero! Bet you're surprised to get this, huh? ..." Duo mumbled
the worlds out loud, skimming down them with growing fear. He found
the line he was looking for and nearly dropped the card. "I was
thinking, how would you like to spend the holidays here with me?
Well, I hope to hear from you soon. Feel free to just drop in!"
Heero had been hit by that car not far from Duo's house. Carrying
nothing but this Christmas card. Oh, Christ, Duo swore silently, he
was actually coming to visit me! That was the only thing that made
sense, that Heero Yuy had actually been coming to see Duo.
Christ.
On a biscuit.
Shoving the card into his pocket, Duo stood with a stretch and looked
around to see what wing of the hospital he had ended up in. Instead
of a helpful map or a directional arrow, he found the clock. His
stomach growled angrily, since it was past noon and he never got
around to even eating lunch.
Maybe he should do like one of the nurses suggested and go home.
Eat, rest... but what if Heero woke up? Okay, so he'd compromise.
After all, they were moving Heero into a private room (thank you,
Quatre) and Duo was sure he could run home, grab some food and a few
other things and get back here before they finished the move.
Excellent plan, Maxwell!
It took Duo a while to find his way out from the hospital and out to
his vehicle, still parked in the visitors area. On the drive back to
his apartment, he couldn't help but marvel at the stupidity of the
entire situation. Here he was, nineteen years old, working a dead-end
job shelving adult videos that swung just this side of legality and
suddenly he was charged with the responsibility of a comatose
ex-pilot.
But, this was not just any pilot, this was Heero Yuy. A man Duo had
spent the past four years in love with. He wasn't sure when he'd
first realized he loved Heero. Maybe it was that first memorable
meeting, or during the countless missions they ran together. How many
nights had he lain awake listening to the rhythmic pattern of Heero's
breathing?
Nights spent longing to look into those cobalt depths and see some
sort of emotion reflected back at him. No, not Heero, with Heero it
was always mission parameters and stoicism. If... WHEN Heero woke up
out of that coma, he was most likely just going to look around and go,
"Hn," in that monotone of his.
Except, Heero had been coming to see him, and Duo felt, somehow, that
made him responsible. Somehow...
His apartment looked horrendously ghetto, Duo realized, deftly
parallel parking in his spray-pain marked spot. Some guilty part of
him was secretly glad Heero hadn't seen the place. If... WHEN Heero
woke up, Duo would have to find somewhere else to stay. He'd have to
sacrifice digital cable and probably sell the surround sound
speakers, but it was time he moved anyway.
The place probably had rats. And the other tenants weren't exactly
the friendliest people. By the time Duo was on the third flight of
stairs, he had officially come to conclusion a new apartment was in
order.
And, maybe Heero could chip in for the cost.
Because Heero would live with him.
Duo was still snickering at the thought as he walked into his stupid,
crummy apartment. In the spirit of the holiday season, a rather
pathetic looking Christmas tree was leaning over in one corner of the
living room with half-broken gold bulbs hanging from the sparse
branches. Here he was, Christmas Eve, getting ready to go spend the
holiday sitting in a clinically uncomfortable chair in a stale, over
disinfected hospital room staring randomly at one of the monitors.
Freaking hallelujah and joy to the world.
He edged around the kitchen, which still held the shattered remains
of his coffee mug and, somewhere, the last stale donut. Reaching the
cabinets, he opened one up at random to reveal a box of baking soda
and a twinkie. Somewhere, he'd read that you could actually put a
twinkie outside in the rain for two weeks and it'd still be edible.
He wasn't sure if that entirely reassuring, but he was hungry. The
refrigerator yielded only a half-gallon of milk that was creeping
towards the expiration date and what appeared to be... pizza. Frozen,
cardboard pizza. And the microwave was busted.
Sometime, he needed to go grocery shopping. Duo stuffed the twinkie
in his pocket and left the kitchen munching on the pizza. It wasn't
terribly nauseating. Still chewing, he managed to locate a ratty old
backpack and throw in a change of clothes. Just in case.
That all said and done, Duo went back out into the kitchen and hunted
through the debris until he found a couple of credits stuffed into a
coffee mug. Emergency take-out money. He stuffed the bills into the
pocket with the twinkie and took one last survey of the apartment.
Definitely he'd be moving.
---------------------------------------------------------- ------------
Back at the hospital, the large chunk of his afternoon was spent
talking to the different doctors and filling out an endless flow of
paperwork and forms. The nurse seemed very upset when Duo couldn't
supply anything regarding Heero's date of birth or relatives, but it
the same argument he'd been having with them all morning.
"Look, I'm really sorry," Duo said, pushing the partially-completed
forms across the counter towards the nurse, "but I don't know that
much about Heero and there's no one alive that I'm aware of that
could tell you anything more. I really am sorry, but you'll just have
to assume he's an orphan."
"There aren't any records of a Heero Yuy.."
"I know, I know, but that's just..." Duo sighed, "I'm sorry."
The nurse frowned and took the forms gingerly, as if afraid the
incompleted information would jump out and bite her fingers. "Thank
you, Mr. Maxwell," she said with a sigh.
Grumbling rather rude words, Duo wandered off from the nurse's
station and down the pristine hallway towards Heero's room. He made a
mental note to later explore the hospital and locate either vending
machines or the cafeteria. Preferably vending machines. And the gift
shop, they'd at least have candy.
The room was small, but it was a private room with a window view of
the parking lot. Not exactly the Ritz, but there was a TV bolted into
one corner of the ceiling and two strangely comfortable upholstered
chairs. Duo suspected the hospital broke regulations by having chairs
that didn't feel like satan's torture seat.
"Hi there, Heero," Duo said brightly as he entered, because of the
doctors had said that "audio stimulation" might wake Heero. Duo
wondered if that meant he could bring up a CD player and blast some
decent music. Maybe they had digital cable and he could find a dirty
porn movie. That'd wake Heero up!
"Nice room, huh?" he asked, dragging one of the oddly-comfortable
chairs over to the bed. He didn't sit down, though, because then he
couldn't see Heero's face. There wasn't much to see, but Duo felt
better if he wasn't talking to the bed rails. "You'll have to thank
Quatre a whole bunch when you wake up. And me, I guess. But you don't
have to, it's cool. I wasn't doing anything at home anyways."
Duo glanced to the door, "Maybe I'll find a cute, young doctor and
flirt shamelessly. Make you all jealous. Oh, I'm just teasing. I'd
never do that."
It was unnaturally silent, even with the steady beeps and random
noises from the monitors and machines. Duo suspected some of the
machines were only there to take up space and look impressively high
tech and expensive.
"Sorry there, Heero, but I'm going to need this..." Duo reached
across the bed and fished the TV control out from between the sheets.
His fingers brushed up against Heero's hip and Duo jerked his hand
back so suddenly he dropped the remote right on to Heero's chest.
Laughing nervously, he plucked the control up and turned the TV on.
"What do you want to watch, Heero? Sports? Yeah, I didn't take you
for a sports kind of guy anyways. Hey, well, I'm going to go hunt
down the vending machines and gift shop. You can watch...uhmm..." Duo
spun through the channels -- just basic cable -- until he found some
educational program about the technologies of colonization.
"Here. Watch this. Maybe you'll get so bored you'll wake up to change
the channel, huh?"
And Heero just slept on. Duo leaned up against the door frame and
peeked into the room, irrationally wanting to see if the Japanese boy
would get up and change the channel. No such luck.
"What are you doing?" demanded an imperious voice behind him, and Duo
spun around to find himself waist-to-face with a little girl in a
hospital gown.
"Er," Duo said in a grandly coherent matter, trying to look casual
and failing miserably.
The girl rolled her eyes in a very grown-up way, "You're so weird. My
mommy says that this hospital's full of weirdos and cracks and that's
why I'm going someplace else."
"Cracks?" Duo blinked, not entirely sure what was going on. He
glanced over his shoulder to make sure he hadn't accidentally gotten
into the pediatrics ward. Yup, Heero was still there, and the walls
weren't decorated in cartoon animals and bright colors.
"My mommy says the doctors are all cracks."
"Quacks?" Duo guessed, not wanting to assume someone had told the
girl all the doctors were crack-addicts. Or Crackers, but that seemed
a bit too southern and definitely not a term used in western Europe.
"Sure," the girl said, staring up at him. "Are you an escaped wacko
come to hack us apart with your chain saw? 'cause daddy let me watch
this one video, and thats what happened and everyone died."
"Uh, right. Wait, I mean, no, I don't even own a chain saw!" Feeling
very overwhelmed, Duo looked helplessly up and down the corridor for
either a nurse of the girl's mother. Or father. Or just her keeper.
"Whatever," the girl said with a sense of years beyond her
three-foot-something stature.
Suddenly, there to rescue him was a tired-looking young man who said,
"Tabitha Agnes! I have been looking all over..." but the gentle
chiding abruptly ending into an embarrassed flush as the man noticed
Duo standing there. "I'm so sorry, sir, my daughter... I hope she
wasn't bothering you," he said, taking the little girl's hand.
"He doesn't have a chain saw," Tabitha Agnes said knowingly.
"It's okay," Duo hurried to say, "she wasn't bothering me at all."
She stuck her tongue out at Duo.
"Uh, cute girl," Duo offered out weakly.
"I think she's a perfect little monster with an ugly face," the young
man said with a foolish grin, looking down at the terror in question.
The girl giggled and poked his leg, "I'll tell mommy you said that!"
"And I'll tell her you ran off from your room again to go pester the
poor sick people in the other wards!" he glanced over to Duo. "Again,
I'm just really sorry. Tabby's just curious as a cat, but she doesn't
mean anything by it.
"Uh..." Duo said, wanting to just back into the room and close the
door. He never was good with children. "It's okay," he said again as
Tabitha Agnes and her father rapidly disappeared.
It wasn't until he was in the elevator and half-way to the lobby he
realized that he should have asked them where the vending machines
were located. But, not even for yummy candy would he risk another
brush with small hospital-bound children. They were either so
terribly cute and brave that you knew they weren't far from croaking
or just annoying and noisy and sure to live.
And that was such a depression thought, Duo went straight into the
gift shop and bought a big box of chocolates.
------------------------------------------------------ ----------------
Later that evening, the box of chocolates half-empty and lying in the
other chair, Duo stared up at the television screen with
mind-blowingly complete boredom. "You know, Heero, you're so lucky
to be unconscious for this."
Somewhere off down the hallway, Duo could barely make out the muffled
lyrics of a Christmas carol. Since Heero never cared for music and he
wasn't in the holiday, Duo hauled himself out of the chair and closed
the door. Now the only sounds were the stupid monitors and the
television, which featured the same program over technology.
"Okay, fine, I'll change it," Duo grumbled, reaching up to grab the
television control. The thing was attached to a cord that run into
the wall and controlled more than just the television. A few hours
ago, he'd laughed himself silly goofing around with bed go-up and
go-down controls. But, the four most important buttons were volume,
power and the one button that went through the channels, but only
in one direction.
Duo yawned, more from boredom than an actual sense of tiredness.
"What do you want to watch, Heero?" Something told him Heero Yuy
didn't want to watch an incredibly sappy feel-good clay-animation
holiday cartoon. But, Heero Yuy didn't really have a say in the
matter! Duo smirked and set the remote back up on the bed.
He started to feel guilty when the theme song was only half-way
through and by the time the first claymation reindeer said "Jimminy
whiskers, Santa!" Duo was scrambling for the remote.
Finally, he abandoned the idea and just turned the stupid television
off and went to get a pillow from the nurse's station. He managed
to get a blanket in the deal and went back to curl up in the chair.
He could just go home and battle empty pizza boxes for a spot on his
bed, but for some reason, he felt the need to just stay at
the hospital.
Maybe because his heating no longer functioned.
Maybe it was the fact that Heero had been coming to see him and they
were suppose to spend the holidays together.
Or maybe it was because he was just lonely.
"Good-night, Heero," Duo said softly, curling around the pillow.
---------------------------------------------------------- ------------
Duo woke with a yawn and attempted to stretch, but the entire movement
jolted his already precarious balance and he came close to toppling
right out of the chair. A mad scramble and a few curses later, Duo
was standing free of the death-trap and trying to work out the knots
in his back.
He blinked, unable to understand where he was for a few minutes, and
then it sunk in and he remembered. Somehow, Duo had been holding out
for the whole thing just to be a really crappy dream. "Good morning,
sunshine," he said with a yawn.
It seemed that Heero's heart monitored bleeped in response.
Duo definitely needed coffee.
He glanced to the door, which had been opened at some point, probably
by a nurse doing vitals checks. He edged towards the bed in stealth
mode and looked down at Heero's immobile body.
"Merry Christmas, Heero," Duo whispered softly, bending over slowly.
Hardly daring to breath, he leaned in and gently brushed his lips
over Heero's cheek. A surge of affection went through him and he
broke into a foolish grin.
He straightened, and then let out a shriek, toppling over the accursed
chair and to the floor with terrific thud. Jumping back to his feet,
Duo gripped the bed rail and stared down at Heero.
And cobalt blue eyes stared back at him.
-
-
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Autho r's Notes: Yay! I'm so glad you want me to continue! ^_^
Happiness for everyone! I went and got myself a new keyboard, it was
kinda cheap. So, it'll probably break, but that's okay.
This chapter's nice and long since the first one was kinda short. Yay.
I'm going to go eat ice cream, then hurry back and start typing again!
This chapter went un-betaed... Whoops.
Feedback/reviews are very much appreciated!
copyright 2003 - Gundam Wing and characters copyright other people.
Email me to join my Update ML!
LSE - Violet Nyte (ManzokuBiscuit@aol.com)
shameless plug - visit my website for cool "shtuff"
http://violetnyte.fallenweb.net
(Another Side - Chapter Two: A Kiss)
rated: PG13 - language, content
shounen-ai/yaoi
A Kiss
-
Feeling very much like he was just stuck in the eye of the hurricane,
Duo snatched a few minutes to himself in one of the impossibly
uncomfortably waiting rooms. For now, it seemed there were no more
forms to fill out and questions to answer. And Duo had to remember to
send Quatre a great big thank you card.
The hospital tried to find records for Heero, but beyond the
government's short file with much of the information left blank,
there was none. Which meant Heero had no insurance, and no family to
take care of the hospital bills. Fortunately, it had only taken a
quick phone call to Quatre to solve the finance issue, and Duo hadn't
even had to ask.
"Mr. Maxwell?" came a quiet voice, and Duo looked up to find a
not-so-young and smiling nurse looking down at him. She looked
friendly enough, but he thought for a minute she was going to kick
him out of the waiting room. Instead, she held out a strangely
familiar white envelope, "Doctor Haines told me to give this to you.
It's what we found on Mr. Yuy."
Duo blinked at her rather stupidly before reaching up to take it from
her. It didn't take long to figure out what he was holding. He looked
back up to the nurse with a look of shock.
"I'm sorry," she said simply, turning and walking away.
In his hands was the Christmas card Duo had sent to Heero. Which
proved Heero had gotten it after all! That irrational surge of joy
turned to stunned horror as Duo realized what it also meant. Hands
shaking, he took the card out of the envelope, staring for a moment
at the cheerful image of holly before opening the card.
"Hey Heero! Bet you're surprised to get this, huh? ..." Duo mumbled
the worlds out loud, skimming down them with growing fear. He found
the line he was looking for and nearly dropped the card. "I was
thinking, how would you like to spend the holidays here with me?
Well, I hope to hear from you soon. Feel free to just drop in!"
Heero had been hit by that car not far from Duo's house. Carrying
nothing but this Christmas card. Oh, Christ, Duo swore silently, he
was actually coming to visit me! That was the only thing that made
sense, that Heero Yuy had actually been coming to see Duo.
Christ.
On a biscuit.
Shoving the card into his pocket, Duo stood with a stretch and looked
around to see what wing of the hospital he had ended up in. Instead
of a helpful map or a directional arrow, he found the clock. His
stomach growled angrily, since it was past noon and he never got
around to even eating lunch.
Maybe he should do like one of the nurses suggested and go home.
Eat, rest... but what if Heero woke up? Okay, so he'd compromise.
After all, they were moving Heero into a private room (thank you,
Quatre) and Duo was sure he could run home, grab some food and a few
other things and get back here before they finished the move.
Excellent plan, Maxwell!
It took Duo a while to find his way out from the hospital and out to
his vehicle, still parked in the visitors area. On the drive back to
his apartment, he couldn't help but marvel at the stupidity of the
entire situation. Here he was, nineteen years old, working a dead-end
job shelving adult videos that swung just this side of legality and
suddenly he was charged with the responsibility of a comatose
ex-pilot.
But, this was not just any pilot, this was Heero Yuy. A man Duo had
spent the past four years in love with. He wasn't sure when he'd
first realized he loved Heero. Maybe it was that first memorable
meeting, or during the countless missions they ran together. How many
nights had he lain awake listening to the rhythmic pattern of Heero's
breathing?
Nights spent longing to look into those cobalt depths and see some
sort of emotion reflected back at him. No, not Heero, with Heero it
was always mission parameters and stoicism. If... WHEN Heero woke up
out of that coma, he was most likely just going to look around and go,
"Hn," in that monotone of his.
Except, Heero had been coming to see him, and Duo felt, somehow, that
made him responsible. Somehow...
His apartment looked horrendously ghetto, Duo realized, deftly
parallel parking in his spray-pain marked spot. Some guilty part of
him was secretly glad Heero hadn't seen the place. If... WHEN Heero
woke up, Duo would have to find somewhere else to stay. He'd have to
sacrifice digital cable and probably sell the surround sound
speakers, but it was time he moved anyway.
The place probably had rats. And the other tenants weren't exactly
the friendliest people. By the time Duo was on the third flight of
stairs, he had officially come to conclusion a new apartment was in
order.
And, maybe Heero could chip in for the cost.
Because Heero would live with him.
Duo was still snickering at the thought as he walked into his stupid,
crummy apartment. In the spirit of the holiday season, a rather
pathetic looking Christmas tree was leaning over in one corner of the
living room with half-broken gold bulbs hanging from the sparse
branches. Here he was, Christmas Eve, getting ready to go spend the
holiday sitting in a clinically uncomfortable chair in a stale, over
disinfected hospital room staring randomly at one of the monitors.
Freaking hallelujah and joy to the world.
He edged around the kitchen, which still held the shattered remains
of his coffee mug and, somewhere, the last stale donut. Reaching the
cabinets, he opened one up at random to reveal a box of baking soda
and a twinkie. Somewhere, he'd read that you could actually put a
twinkie outside in the rain for two weeks and it'd still be edible.
He wasn't sure if that entirely reassuring, but he was hungry. The
refrigerator yielded only a half-gallon of milk that was creeping
towards the expiration date and what appeared to be... pizza. Frozen,
cardboard pizza. And the microwave was busted.
Sometime, he needed to go grocery shopping. Duo stuffed the twinkie
in his pocket and left the kitchen munching on the pizza. It wasn't
terribly nauseating. Still chewing, he managed to locate a ratty old
backpack and throw in a change of clothes. Just in case.
That all said and done, Duo went back out into the kitchen and hunted
through the debris until he found a couple of credits stuffed into a
coffee mug. Emergency take-out money. He stuffed the bills into the
pocket with the twinkie and took one last survey of the apartment.
Definitely he'd be moving.
---------------------------------------------------------- ------------
Back at the hospital, the large chunk of his afternoon was spent
talking to the different doctors and filling out an endless flow of
paperwork and forms. The nurse seemed very upset when Duo couldn't
supply anything regarding Heero's date of birth or relatives, but it
the same argument he'd been having with them all morning.
"Look, I'm really sorry," Duo said, pushing the partially-completed
forms across the counter towards the nurse, "but I don't know that
much about Heero and there's no one alive that I'm aware of that
could tell you anything more. I really am sorry, but you'll just have
to assume he's an orphan."
"There aren't any records of a Heero Yuy.."
"I know, I know, but that's just..." Duo sighed, "I'm sorry."
The nurse frowned and took the forms gingerly, as if afraid the
incompleted information would jump out and bite her fingers. "Thank
you, Mr. Maxwell," she said with a sigh.
Grumbling rather rude words, Duo wandered off from the nurse's
station and down the pristine hallway towards Heero's room. He made a
mental note to later explore the hospital and locate either vending
machines or the cafeteria. Preferably vending machines. And the gift
shop, they'd at least have candy.
The room was small, but it was a private room with a window view of
the parking lot. Not exactly the Ritz, but there was a TV bolted into
one corner of the ceiling and two strangely comfortable upholstered
chairs. Duo suspected the hospital broke regulations by having chairs
that didn't feel like satan's torture seat.
"Hi there, Heero," Duo said brightly as he entered, because of the
doctors had said that "audio stimulation" might wake Heero. Duo
wondered if that meant he could bring up a CD player and blast some
decent music. Maybe they had digital cable and he could find a dirty
porn movie. That'd wake Heero up!
"Nice room, huh?" he asked, dragging one of the oddly-comfortable
chairs over to the bed. He didn't sit down, though, because then he
couldn't see Heero's face. There wasn't much to see, but Duo felt
better if he wasn't talking to the bed rails. "You'll have to thank
Quatre a whole bunch when you wake up. And me, I guess. But you don't
have to, it's cool. I wasn't doing anything at home anyways."
Duo glanced to the door, "Maybe I'll find a cute, young doctor and
flirt shamelessly. Make you all jealous. Oh, I'm just teasing. I'd
never do that."
It was unnaturally silent, even with the steady beeps and random
noises from the monitors and machines. Duo suspected some of the
machines were only there to take up space and look impressively high
tech and expensive.
"Sorry there, Heero, but I'm going to need this..." Duo reached
across the bed and fished the TV control out from between the sheets.
His fingers brushed up against Heero's hip and Duo jerked his hand
back so suddenly he dropped the remote right on to Heero's chest.
Laughing nervously, he plucked the control up and turned the TV on.
"What do you want to watch, Heero? Sports? Yeah, I didn't take you
for a sports kind of guy anyways. Hey, well, I'm going to go hunt
down the vending machines and gift shop. You can watch...uhmm..." Duo
spun through the channels -- just basic cable -- until he found some
educational program about the technologies of colonization.
"Here. Watch this. Maybe you'll get so bored you'll wake up to change
the channel, huh?"
And Heero just slept on. Duo leaned up against the door frame and
peeked into the room, irrationally wanting to see if the Japanese boy
would get up and change the channel. No such luck.
"What are you doing?" demanded an imperious voice behind him, and Duo
spun around to find himself waist-to-face with a little girl in a
hospital gown.
"Er," Duo said in a grandly coherent matter, trying to look casual
and failing miserably.
The girl rolled her eyes in a very grown-up way, "You're so weird. My
mommy says that this hospital's full of weirdos and cracks and that's
why I'm going someplace else."
"Cracks?" Duo blinked, not entirely sure what was going on. He
glanced over his shoulder to make sure he hadn't accidentally gotten
into the pediatrics ward. Yup, Heero was still there, and the walls
weren't decorated in cartoon animals and bright colors.
"My mommy says the doctors are all cracks."
"Quacks?" Duo guessed, not wanting to assume someone had told the
girl all the doctors were crack-addicts. Or Crackers, but that seemed
a bit too southern and definitely not a term used in western Europe.
"Sure," the girl said, staring up at him. "Are you an escaped wacko
come to hack us apart with your chain saw? 'cause daddy let me watch
this one video, and thats what happened and everyone died."
"Uh, right. Wait, I mean, no, I don't even own a chain saw!" Feeling
very overwhelmed, Duo looked helplessly up and down the corridor for
either a nurse of the girl's mother. Or father. Or just her keeper.
"Whatever," the girl said with a sense of years beyond her
three-foot-something stature.
Suddenly, there to rescue him was a tired-looking young man who said,
"Tabitha Agnes! I have been looking all over..." but the gentle
chiding abruptly ending into an embarrassed flush as the man noticed
Duo standing there. "I'm so sorry, sir, my daughter... I hope she
wasn't bothering you," he said, taking the little girl's hand.
"He doesn't have a chain saw," Tabitha Agnes said knowingly.
"It's okay," Duo hurried to say, "she wasn't bothering me at all."
She stuck her tongue out at Duo.
"Uh, cute girl," Duo offered out weakly.
"I think she's a perfect little monster with an ugly face," the young
man said with a foolish grin, looking down at the terror in question.
The girl giggled and poked his leg, "I'll tell mommy you said that!"
"And I'll tell her you ran off from your room again to go pester the
poor sick people in the other wards!" he glanced over to Duo. "Again,
I'm just really sorry. Tabby's just curious as a cat, but she doesn't
mean anything by it.
"Uh..." Duo said, wanting to just back into the room and close the
door. He never was good with children. "It's okay," he said again as
Tabitha Agnes and her father rapidly disappeared.
It wasn't until he was in the elevator and half-way to the lobby he
realized that he should have asked them where the vending machines
were located. But, not even for yummy candy would he risk another
brush with small hospital-bound children. They were either so
terribly cute and brave that you knew they weren't far from croaking
or just annoying and noisy and sure to live.
And that was such a depression thought, Duo went straight into the
gift shop and bought a big box of chocolates.
------------------------------------------------------ ----------------
Later that evening, the box of chocolates half-empty and lying in the
other chair, Duo stared up at the television screen with
mind-blowingly complete boredom. "You know, Heero, you're so lucky
to be unconscious for this."
Somewhere off down the hallway, Duo could barely make out the muffled
lyrics of a Christmas carol. Since Heero never cared for music and he
wasn't in the holiday, Duo hauled himself out of the chair and closed
the door. Now the only sounds were the stupid monitors and the
television, which featured the same program over technology.
"Okay, fine, I'll change it," Duo grumbled, reaching up to grab the
television control. The thing was attached to a cord that run into
the wall and controlled more than just the television. A few hours
ago, he'd laughed himself silly goofing around with bed go-up and
go-down controls. But, the four most important buttons were volume,
power and the one button that went through the channels, but only
in one direction.
Duo yawned, more from boredom than an actual sense of tiredness.
"What do you want to watch, Heero?" Something told him Heero Yuy
didn't want to watch an incredibly sappy feel-good clay-animation
holiday cartoon. But, Heero Yuy didn't really have a say in the
matter! Duo smirked and set the remote back up on the bed.
He started to feel guilty when the theme song was only half-way
through and by the time the first claymation reindeer said "Jimminy
whiskers, Santa!" Duo was scrambling for the remote.
Finally, he abandoned the idea and just turned the stupid television
off and went to get a pillow from the nurse's station. He managed
to get a blanket in the deal and went back to curl up in the chair.
He could just go home and battle empty pizza boxes for a spot on his
bed, but for some reason, he felt the need to just stay at
the hospital.
Maybe because his heating no longer functioned.
Maybe it was the fact that Heero had been coming to see him and they
were suppose to spend the holidays together.
Or maybe it was because he was just lonely.
"Good-night, Heero," Duo said softly, curling around the pillow.
---------------------------------------------------------- ------------
Duo woke with a yawn and attempted to stretch, but the entire movement
jolted his already precarious balance and he came close to toppling
right out of the chair. A mad scramble and a few curses later, Duo
was standing free of the death-trap and trying to work out the knots
in his back.
He blinked, unable to understand where he was for a few minutes, and
then it sunk in and he remembered. Somehow, Duo had been holding out
for the whole thing just to be a really crappy dream. "Good morning,
sunshine," he said with a yawn.
It seemed that Heero's heart monitored bleeped in response.
Duo definitely needed coffee.
He glanced to the door, which had been opened at some point, probably
by a nurse doing vitals checks. He edged towards the bed in stealth
mode and looked down at Heero's immobile body.
"Merry Christmas, Heero," Duo whispered softly, bending over slowly.
Hardly daring to breath, he leaned in and gently brushed his lips
over Heero's cheek. A surge of affection went through him and he
broke into a foolish grin.
He straightened, and then let out a shriek, toppling over the accursed
chair and to the floor with terrific thud. Jumping back to his feet,
Duo gripped the bed rail and stared down at Heero.
And cobalt blue eyes stared back at him.
-
-
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Autho r's Notes: Yay! I'm so glad you want me to continue! ^_^
Happiness for everyone! I went and got myself a new keyboard, it was
kinda cheap. So, it'll probably break, but that's okay.
This chapter's nice and long since the first one was kinda short. Yay.
I'm going to go eat ice cream, then hurry back and start typing again!
This chapter went un-betaed... Whoops.
Feedback/reviews are very much appreciated!
copyright 2003 - Gundam Wing and characters copyright other people.
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