Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Essential Elements ❯ Reality Check! ( Chapter 2 )

Warnings: AU-ish, yaoi, language, future lime, mostly Duo's POV

 

Pairings: 2x1/1x2, 3x4, 5+S, OC+2

 

Disclaimer: No, I don't own the G-boys, a fact that makes me cry to this day. I do, however, own everyone in this fic who's not in GW. Go me!

 

A/N: Just to let you know, Chapter two has also been heavily revised and edited. Why doesn't anyone ever tell me when the fic's riddled with errors and contradictions? Gah!

 

Chapter 2: Reality Check!

 

Oh, I was having the most fabulous dream. A dream where I was still in the hot spring. The situation was pretty much the same: the five of us were just hanging out, relaxing. Then, as you remember, I splashed Wufei and the madness ensued, with Q joining the hunt for my blood, Heero betraying me, Wu and Q attacking me, Heero betraying me again. All that crap was the same.

 

Here's where my dream differed ever so slightly from the actual situation: you remember how he was all “I like the way you look when you're all wet, and hot?” Well, in my dream, Heero DIDN'T do the totally jerky, un-cool thing of dunking me back into the water after I came up for air. Instead, Dream Heero lifted me (gently) into his (sexy, powerful) arms and leaned his (gorgeous) head down, gently caressing my lips with his own, whispering my name in that oh-so-sexy baritone of his. He told me he wanted me. I replied in kind.

 

And then, we kissed.

 

We weren't kissing in the mushy, sappy way you see your Mommy and Daddy doin' it, or the way you see daytime soap stars making out. Ours was a wet, violent, tongue-sucking, tonsil-probing assault on the others' mouth. Dream Heero was exceptionally aggressive, and after a few moments of the first kiss, he spun me roughly around and slammed me into the rock behind us. I gasped and he took advantage of my open mouth. I do so love being taken advantage of. Sliding his slippery, naked body against my own, (no, I didn't know when or how we lost our clothes, and I couldn't bring myself to care) he ran a calloused hand through my hair (didn't know how it came down, didn't care) and continued to plunder my mouth with his tongue.

 

Mmm, he was such a marvelous plunderer.

 

With his free hand, he began to explore my body, and I gave into the same temptation, running my hands up and down his muscled back, reveling in the hardness of the expanse.

 

Speaking of hard….

 

Dream Heero broke our kiss and smiled softly. Then, he leaned close, nuzzling my ear, and his hand trekked downward. “Duo,” he purred. I melted and leaned into his embrace.

 

“Yeah?” I asked breathlessly.

 

“I want-” I never got to hear the rest. Because at that moment, a fucking HUGE, GREEN plant-beast descended from the heavens, ate Heero, and… I heard voices….

 

 

“Maybe you should wake him up.”

 

“No way! You wake him up.”

 

“Don't make him do your dirty work, Razyo, you're supposed to be taking care of him. You wake him up.”

 

“Oh. Well, then, never mind. Hey, guys?”

 

“But Taiga found `em. He should wake him up. He needs to wake up.”

 

“Leave him alone, if you want `im awake so badly, wake `im up, Razyo!”

 

“Guys?”

 

“I don't really want him awake! Who knows what he's doing here? But… then again, we won't know what he is or what he's doing in this forest until he's up.”

 

“D'ya think he c'n talk? Cuz even if'e wakes up, it won't be really solving anything if'e can't talk.”

 

“Well, the other ones could talk, and he was talking a second ago, before he started yelling.”

“Guys?”

 

“'Ren, what's a Hiiiii-ro?”

 

“Fuck if I know. Why d'ya think he kept moaning like that? The same reason he screamed?”

 

“I dunno, maybe he's hurt. What do you think, Kyo?”

 

“…..”

 

“Hey, do you think-”

 

“GUYS!”

 

“What, Taiga?”

 

There was a chuckle in response to the outburst. “He's awake. Has been for awhile now.” I found myself blinking into four different pairs of eyes, all trained on me. Where the heck was I? Looking straight up, I could see the white, brown and green of what resembled a hotel room ceiling, or something, and there were plants everywhere, but that wasn't a great distinguishing factor, so I had no clue where I was. I had to say, though, this was a weird place for a holding cell.

 

My vision was horribly blurred, so I didn't really notice until the last minute when one of the people who'd been arguing over me got in my face. Brown eyes. “Hey, there. Prove us right, huh? You can talk, can't you?” he asked softly.

 

Now, I know I may not be known as the most eloquent person, but come on, what the fuck kind of question was “can you talk?”! There I was, a grown-ass man/boy and this guy was asking if I could talk?

 

I sat up, ignoring my body as it protested the action. “Can I talk?” I asked heatedly. “You mean will I talk? You have to mean will, `cause you know damn well I can talk! I can talk circles around every one of you fucks! I don't know what you want, but you can do your worst, by all means, `cause you'll never hear whatever it is from me! I was trained better'n that!”

 

Hey, being an ex-pilot is taxing on the psyche. There were still some sick people out there who were pissed because of the war; you never where the next OZ supporter could be waiting for you in the shadows. My motto was to assume the worst and cover all the bases.

 

 

Brown-eyes held his hands up defensively and took a step backwards. …At least, I think he did, because he stopped blocking my light. “Alright, alright, so you can talk, karo, no need to get so violent about it….”

 

“Sadistic? Do our worst because we'll ever hear what we… want…? What's all `at mean?” I dimly noted that it was a girl's voice.

 

“Hn, he's feisty, no?” someone chuckled. I heard footsteps approaching me and then something else blocked my light. Dammit, stop getting in my light!

 

Snarling `cause I was sick of lying on my back while those people stood over me, saying shit I didn't understand, I rubbed my eyes and prepared to… I dunno, run, defend myself, whatever was necessary. And after my vision cleared, I saw that staring was necessary.

 

Oh, yes, very necessary indeed. I shook my head and took a second look to see if I was dreaming.

 

Nope, not dreaming. Damn.

 

Since when was reality so fucking surreal? Standing over me was the guy who'd chuckled. Long red hair and gray eyes, tall, well built, and overall, pretty attractive. Very nice. I would almost dare to say he was hot. However, a few things stopped me from daring to say that. You may ask, “Duo, what would stop you form daring to say that this particular guy was hot?” And to that, I would have to reply that the setback was the fact that this particular hottie candidate had DOG EARS and a TAIL.

 

But just maybe.

 

Now, please, don't start in on me with that whole, “Oh, silly Duo, people don't have animal components on their bodies, that's impossible, why don't you go take a nap, and try talking to me again when you're lucid?” thing, I know what I saw! The long orange-and-white tail was swishing back and forth behind him, brushing against the fabric of his deep blue pants, while one ear was cocked forward and the other stuck out to the side his head. Yeah, I know what I saw. There was a supremely good-looking guy, or at least, he would have been a supremely good-looking guy, if not for the not-so-human parts of his body, standing over me and grinning. That's when I noticed he had fangs.

 

The fuck?

 

I scooted backwards frantically, trying to get AWAY from those teeth.

 

And that's when I noticed I was butt-naked.

 

I cracked. That was too much!

 

“Get the hell away from me, you sicko, what's wrong with you?! Where the hell are my clothes?” I began scrambling around on the bed they'd put me on, snatching the sheets up, trying to preserve what was left of my dignity. They stared at me and I glared at ferociously at them, daring them to attempt to defend their reasoning.

 

Then, another thought hit me: I was alone in the room except for these weirdoes. “Where the hell are my friends? What did you do to them, you bastards? If you've hurt them, I swear, on Shinigami's name, I'm gonna make sure you all rot in hell where you belo-” I was cut off mid-rant by a gentle hand on my arm.

 

For some reason, I felt immediately calm, an odd warmth seeping through my body. I felt sleepy and lethargic. Drugged up. Sedated. Fuck, I hated being sedated! (Whoohoo, a rhyme!) I turned sharply- er, well, as sharply as I could, when I felt like I was made of marshmallows and peanut butter, damned drugs- and faced the owner of that stupid hand with the stupid needle probably hidden in it somewhere, fully prepared to chew the guy out… when I found out I couldn't. Oh, no, you can't yell at someone as pretty as this guy was. It was probably illegal! Never in a million years could I bring myself to yell at anyone this hot.

 

With really long black hair that flowed down his back and ice blue eyes, the guy looked for all the world like some sort of god descended from the heavens for the sole purpose of making humans feel aesthetically inferior. He was wearing a pale blue shirt the same color as his eyes and very, very, very tight black pants that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. Oh, yes, this guys was Grade-A Quality stud material! (So I'm a pervert, so what?) I quickly checked him for any abnormalities and found none. Thank God, he was hot and normal.

 

Heck, yes!

 

I locked eyes with him for a second and tried to smile, `cause I knew for a fact that I looked much cuter that way. The guy scowled at me, narrowing his eyes and curling his upper lip in a vicious snarl.

 

Well, shit.

 

That definitely wasn't the reaction I'd been going for. Jeez, all I did was smile at him!

 

“How's `e doin' Kyo-kida?” I heard from behind me. The black-haired boy looked up and over my shoulder.

 

“He's fine, Raz, tense but fine.” The black-haired guy's voice was deep, rich, and melodic. He looked back down, giving me another scathing look, then closed his eyes and tossed his head, clearing the hair from his eyes.

 

Dammit, even when he was being haughty, he was a head rush! (Hey, just because he seemed to hate me didn't mean I was going to lie about how incredibly fine he was.)

 

“So, he's alright, huh, Kyo?” the voice purred, much closer to me than before. I couldn't bring myself to turn around and get a look at him, though, as whatever they'd drugged me with was near-paralyzing.

 

Dammit! Curse them and their fast-acting sedatives! “And was I right, Kyo-kido? Tell me, was I right about the boy and his friends?” Kyo, the jet-haired hottie, rolled his eyes and turned away. The other continued. “I was, wasn't I? Come on, you can say it, baby, I have faith in you, I know you can.” I could practically hear the smirk in this guy's voice. It reminded me of me, when I was in full-on flirt-mode with Heero…. So Kyo was taken. By the dude behind me, Raz, or whatever his name was. Lucky bastard.

 

Sighing again, Kyo turned on his oh-so-sexy heel and walked towards a doorway I hadn't noticed before. “The others and I will go ahead and get going; I figure Urai will want us to gather the other students. I'll see you back at the temple, Razyo. Let the boy know the true reason he's here, though. I'd hate for him worry about it.” With a coldly mocking glance in my direction, he left. Man, he really didn't like me, did he? Oh, well, I thought as I lowered my head.

 

Easy come, easy go.

 

Suddenly, my stomach lurched and I groaned, holding my head in my hands and hating whatever tranquilizer they used. There was a chuckle and I felt a weight on the cot-thingy as the boy sat down next to me. “Don't pay any attention to Kyo, gorgeous, he's just pissed `cause I'm paying more attention than necessary to someone who's not him.” I looked up at him slowly and would have opened my eyes wider if my face muscles worked. Gaddammit, why were all of these people so fucking good-looking?!

 

The boy longish spiky hair, and whoever dyed it did a kick-ass job with the coloring; bright green with black tips. Awesome. He was wearing a tight grey shirt that laced up in the front and a black thong choker around his slender neck. Sexy. His pants were similar to Kyo's, tight and black, and he was sporting knee-high black boots. Very sexy. This guy was delicious! I looked back into his face and found that one of his eyes was obscured by his super-cool hair, while the visible one was really bright gray, almost silver and lined in what looked like black kohl.

 

It was people like those that made me glad I was gay!

 

“Here drink this. Kyo put a lot into that calming trance. Sorry `bout that. He tends to get carried away with his spells, but you know how it is.” I took the proffered cup and lifted it tentatively to my lips, staring perplexedly at the sexy boy over the rim.

 

Spells? I… knew how it was? Ooookaaaay. Maybe he was talking about medicine? Yeah, that's it. Medicine.

 

“Oh, and no need to worry about your friends, they're safe. One of `em, the black-haired one? He's still unconscious, but other than a few mild scrapes and bruises, the other three're just fine. I'll take you to the anteroom, and you can see them then.” I continued to stare at him. For all his fine-ness, the kid seemed a tad bit off. He noticed me staring again and shook his head. “I'm sorry, I've completely forgotten my manners. Name's Razyokai, if you didn't hear.” He held out a slender hand with a tiny green leaf tattooed on it. “Most everybody calls me Razyo, but I'll answer to just about anything.” He bowed, grinning hugely. “So, Razyokai Lai'Isala, at your service.” See what I mean? Just a tad off.

 

I'd been so busy listening to him that I'd forgotten about the contents of the cup. I really wished I hadn't remembered it as I took a gulp.

 

“AACK!” I threw the cup containing the vile liquid down, as far away as possible, covering my poor, abused mouth with my hand. What the HELL was that crap? I looked accusatorily at the boy. “What'd you just give me?” I demanded. Razyo shrugged.

 

“Not much, really, it's just an anti-soporific. I'm sure you didn't want to be so `calm' that you couldn't move, right?” I stared at him.

 

Anti-sopo-what?

 

He smiled at me, leaning closer. “I mean, what if someone decided to take advantage of you while you were under the influence?” The smile grew predatory and I leaned back.

 

Hold up.

 

Was this guy… hitting on me? Me? With Mr. I'm-Too­-Sexy-For­-My-Pants for a boyfriend? No way!

 

“Uh, look, Razyo, you're really hot and all,” that earned me a raised eyebrow along with that hungry smile, “and I tell you this at the risk of looking like a coward, which I most certainly am not, I'm scared of your boyfriend.” He backed away, frowned, and blinked, looking perplexed.

 

“Boyfriend? Who's my boyfriend?” Now it was my turn to look perplexed.

 

“You mean Kyo's not…?” The green-haired boy stared at me for a moment before laughing.

 

“Oh, fuck, no! I mean, don't get me wrong, getting him to fall for me is my life's goal, but no. I've known him since we were little. Unfortunately for me, we're just friends.” The lascivious smirk returned to his face. “So there's a vacancy, if you're interested….” He reached out with elegant tapered fingers and caressed the side of my face. I jerked as though I'd been shot.

 

“Shit, man, don't you think you're movin' a little fast? You're in love with somebody else, you don't even know my name, I mean, come on!”

 

Pouting a little, Razyo sat back and sighed. “Alright, what's your name?”

 

“Duo.” He nodded and moved towards me again, under the impression that we clearly knew enough about each other, now, to date. I held my hands out, effectively stilling his movement. “But, look, man, there's already, well it's like a you and Kyo situation, I guess… I mean, I'm kinda in love with-”

 

“Aahh… Heero?” he supplied. I nodded, then did a double take, staring at him, shocked.

 

How the fuck did he know?! Only Quatre and Hilde knew that! Them and Trowa. And Howard and the Sweepers… and pretty much everyone who'd ever seen the two of us together…. But hell, Razyokai wasn't one of those people!

 

He must have noticed the wheels turning in my head, because he smiled and tweaked my nose playfully. “You were moaning and calling his name in your sleep.” I remembered my dream and blushed. Raze laughed. “Which one is he?” he asked excitedly. “Is it the little blond one? `Cause he's really- oh, never mind, I remember the way he was looking at the one with the funny hair while he was sleeping.” He giggled and blushed the tiniest bit. (Note to self: ask Q what the hell happened while he was staring at Trowa.) Raz tossed his head and stared into my face. “So, Heero must be the one with those magnificent blue eyes, huh? Really messy brown hair?” I sighed and nodded. Razyo whistled appreciatively. “Damn! I'd honestly be too scared to try anything with Tall Dark and Scowling, though. The first words that came outta his mouth when he woke up were death threats. Kyo had one helluva time trying to calm him down.” Raze sighed, pouting just a bit. “So, you like that one?” I nodded again.

 

“Yep, no doubt in my mind.” He nodded sagely.

 

“Ha,” he laughed mirthlessly. “Yeah, that's pretty much how I feel about Kyo. I don't really want anyone but him, but I'll take what I can get, you know? No offense, it's just that I… I don't think anyone's as… beautiful as Kyo is.” Heero's hotter'n him, I thought pridefully…. Well, as hot, anyway. “Just sucks that he doesn't feel the same, yanno? Sometimes I wonder if that guy feels anything for anybody.” I nodded sympathetically (my, but we were doing a lot of nodding!); I could relate. He smirked (a lotta that, too). “How long've you known?”

 

“Ever since I shot him.” The emerald-haired boy stared (and that…).

 

“Y-you shot the man you're in love with?”

 

“Uh-huh. Twice.”

 

“And he's friends with you?”

 

“Ah, yeah. We were… in the war together, we were Gundam pilots. That's why I thought you guys had captured me, to get information. You'd be surprised how many people want to start another war, man.” Razyo narrowed his eyes, still staring.

 

“You… were in a war? Here? Sorry, but from the tests we ran, you are far too young to have been in any war or battle this area's seen in quite some time.” Now it was my turn to stare.

 

Huh?

 

“Uh, dude, what're you talkin' about? Are you tryin' ta tell me that you… what, never heard `a the war? Wha' d'you people live in a box or somethin'? Not that I'm knockin' it, cuz I know I did a few times in my life, but-” I stopped talking when I realized that this kid just wasn't on the same page as me. I pulled my hair in frustration. “Damn, Razyo, what's wrong with you? There's no way you coulda just not heard about the wars! They went on for, like, ever! We were terrorists! And then the Colonies against OZ and the Earth Sphere, Gundams against Mobile Suits? White Fang, Sanq Kingdom, any `a this ring a bell? Jeez, all the shit that was goin' down was in the news every fucking day! And stop lookin' at me like I'm crazy, dammit!” I snapped when he gave me a look that clearly suggested that I might be.

 

“Duo… what're you talking about? What's a Gun-dum? What colonies went to war against what Earth, what is Ahz, what's a Mobile Suit, dammit, Duo, what are you talking about? There hasn't been a war in Ran tre Kaeido in decades, and one would think I should know, my father was a general! You're talking nonsense, Duo!”

 

Ran tre Kaeido. And I was the one talking nonsense?!

 

I wanted to cry out of sheer frustration. No, really, I did. It was one thing for these people to take me into some hotel room somewhere and undress me. That I could handle. It was one thing for some dude to go and have his body genetically altered with animal parts. Fine, whatever floats your boat, pal. It was one thing to substitute the word “spell” for… I dunno, drugs. Loony mind you, but relatively feasible. It was one thing for some hot guy I just met to want to fucking date me before he even knew my name. What can I say, I am Duo Maxwell.

 

But it was a whole different animal when said lovely pretended to have no idea about a war that lasted over ten fucking years!

 

We argued for a good fifteen minutes, with him rambling on about places that I knew for a fact did not exist anywhere on Earth or on the colonies, while I tried my level best to figure out what kind of drug this guy had to have been on, to be so high as to miss an entire goddam war. I was growing more and more frustrated with him as time passed. And what was even more irritating was the fact that that annoying buzzy-tingly sensation was back, and this time I felt it in my mind and all over my body. Dammit, I was sick of all the fucking weirdness in this place! Just let me go home, screw Wufei's camping trip!

 

“Can y'just take me to the guys, Razyo, I'm done with this,” I sighed. I was tired of trying to convince him, pissed off that he was so… so damn out of it. The boy smirked darkly and got off the bed.

 

“Very well then, Duo, I'll take you to your friends. Please follow me.” I prepared to stand up when I remembered my lack of clothing.

 

“Uh, Raz?” I called. He turned and grinned as he caught sight of my attempt at being modest.

 

“Yes, Duo-kida?” he purred. I had no time to wonder what the hell “kida” meant with him leering at me like that. I frowned at him and his grin widened.

 

“Dammit, Raz, you know what I need!” He pulled an innocent face.

 

“No, I don't. Tell me, Duo, what do you need? I'm dying to know.”

 

It was then that I realized that Razyokai and myself were very much alike. We were both obnoxious, teasing, rebellious and in love with men who were apparently oblivious. We were both outgoing (from what I could tell), and he seemed to pretty quick-witted. Yeah, I had a feeling that him and I could be good friends, close buddies, that I'd like him a lot, keep in touch when we went back home (`cause I still had NO idea where we were) and all that jazz.

 

That is, I would like him if I didn't hate him so much at the moment.

 

“Dammit, Raze, stop playin' around and get me some goddam clothes, okay?!” He laughed and dodged the half-hearted punch I threw at him.

 

“Alright, alright, calm down. I'll be back in a sec.” He tossed another grin over his shoulder as he headed towards the door. “Don't go anywhere, Duo,” he joked. I scowled and he left, laughing. I sighed and sat back, taking in my surroundings.

 

I was totally wrong about the room having been any sort of holding cell, as it really did look very much like a hotel suite. The walls were a lovely cream color, with gold and black panels lining the entire room. Looking down at the carpet, I could tell, even from up on my perch on the bed, that it was lush and soft. Damn, this place is nice, I thought as I looked back up at the ceiling, noticing for the first time, the ornate golden chandelier hanging from it. Ritzy was the word that came to mind. In fact, it kinda reminded me of one of Q's house/mansion/fortresses. A guy could get used to this place!

 

I was in the midst of continuing my observations of the place when I felt that weird tingly-buzzing sensation again. I looked around the room, searching for the cause of the odd feeling that kept seeming to wrap itself around my brain. Dammit, I hated things that wrapped themselves around my brain!

 

Snarling, I turned around sharply in the bed, ready to raise hell. “Dammit, what… the… fuck….”

 

Yeah, I'd been expecting, you know, like, nothing in front of me, or maybe, at the most, a person. But, no. I'd forgotten that I was in weirdo-freak-nothing-makes-any-fucking-walking-around-sense-land. No, nothing in front of me would have been too normal. So, yes, there I was, stark naked in a bed with nothing but a sheet to cover myself with, with some wicked-looking monster of a Venus-flytrap-from-hell literally hovering over me.

 

For a moment, I was brave, I was calm, I was quiet. I stared at the massive aberration of nature, my lips a thin white scar on my face. A funny squeaking sound came from the back of my throat, threatening to become a squeal if I didn't maintain my composure.

 

So, I maintained, as any true Gundam pilot would.

 

The plant-monster cocked its head (and YES, I am going to call it a head, `cause that's what it looked like, dammit!) and lengthened out, its face (DON'T START!!) inches from mine.

 

Alright, now first of all, let me drop some knowledge on you: a plant is defined as any of various photosynthetic, eukaryotic, multicellular organism of the kingdom Plantae, characteristically producing embryos, containing chloroplasts, having cellulose cell walls, and lacking the power of locomotion. That's the Webster definition, baby.

 

Now, did anyone catch that last part, hmm? No? Here, let me spell it out for you.

 

LACKING THE POWER OF LOCOMOTION!!

 

Yes, I was brave for a little bit. I managed not to scream when the PLANT MOVED. I was good about that. Go me. Aforementioned bravery leaked out of my ears when the aforementioned plant GRINNED, extended a long purple-black TONGUE, and LICKED MY GODDAMNEDFACE!

 

Yeah, screw bravery, man.

 

I closed my eyes and screamed as if to wake the dead.

 

I screamed even louder when I felt something cool coil around my right arm and turned to see Plant-zilla still staring at me. It was at that moment that I noticed that the thing had fangs. I blinked rapidly. Nope, they were still there. Long, needlike, evil, dripping fangs. That was the reality of it.

 

I fucking hated reality.

 

Maybe I should stop this whole fainting thing, was my last thought before I heard the sounds of hurried footsteps and I blacked out for the second time in twenty-four hours.

 

To Be Continued…

 

 

Please R&R!!