Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Subjects of My Sanity ❯ Patience ( Chapter 24 )

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Gundam Wing Characters, and all that other good stuff.

Pairings: 1+2, hints of 3+4

Warning: Hmmm little bit o' Yaoi.

Authors Note: booooo

////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Patience

>_____<

~Subject: Duo~

The window opened rather loudly and out popped another lovely guest to my humble basement home. Though, this guest was not whom I would have expected to up and fall to the floor of my dirty living space, making it even dirtier with his muddy boots.

Wufei's stood rather weakly underneath the window, eyes looking between me and Heero, barely showing any hint of recognition at first. I tried to clear my throat, clear the stupid block that surprise had put on my speech, to ask him what he was doing here. It may have been a dumb question… I guess, seeing as the condition he was in could easily answer for him. He looked worn and tired. And I would bet anything my hard bed was looking really heavenly to him right then.

"Shit…" That was all I managed to say after finally managing to shrug off my surprise and confusion. Quickly, I made my way over to where he was dripping water on the floor. "You're a mess Wu! What did you think you were doing? Up and sneaking out of a hospital like that!" That definitely wasn't what I had planned on saying. No, I was supposed to be making sure he was alright, not scolding him!

He looked slightly surprised, but it was hard to tell through all the bruising on his face. Maybe he hadn't thought we had tried checking up on him… more than just once.

"Came to…" He croaked, voice crackled and sounding painful even to my ears. That was when I decided that scolding could wait and his injuries really should be checked on first. Just when was the last time he got water? Food? He hadn't been in the hospital for more than a couple hours…

Things were not sounding good to my imaginative mind.

"Aa… don't talk, it's alright. You look tired, it'd probably be a good idea to sleep before we beat you for answers…" I mumbled the last bit more to myself while I advanced forward, trying to take his arm and lead him over to the bedroom side of my basement. He wouldn't have any of that though, and shrugged off my attempt, moving… or more like limping his way to my bed on his own.

He seemed perfectly content to just sit down and wouldn't even let me check to see if he had any serious injuries till his eyes closed. I waited, then wasn't disappointed when out popped the heavy, exhausted sounding sigh right before he let in to sleep. This had me wondering just how long he had been awake… how long he had been in that apartment complex before we had found him.

Well, those questions were obviously going to have to wait. I may have been pushy… but I tried to be at least a little considerate… once in awhile… sometimes…

I helped him in the only way he would let me, pulled back the covers and very sneakily tucking him in. I shouldn't of had to have worried about that, seeing as he was asleep even before I managed to get all the covers over him.

Yuck, he was still soaking wet. That was not going to do my poor mattress any good. But, one thing I really did not want to temp was Wufei's anger at us trying to strip him down. Us… hmm… yeah, I guess if I were to try and get Wufei's soaking rags off of him I wouldn't want to do it alone. And I didn't think Heero would mind helping me… not that I was going to ask… so I'd just let myself think that he 'would' have been that nice if the circumstances were to change in that direction.

I snorted, amused by my own delusional thoughts.

Moving silently, I made my way back over to where Heero and I had been sitting only moments before, to where Heero was still sitting, still looking blankly from the window to Wufei.

"He made it all the way here… like that?" He asked, sounding almost bewildered. I could see what he meant. It was a damn thunderstorm outside. Heero had exhausted himself coming here. Wufei, however, was in much worse condition than Heero had been, and had still managed to make it without passing out.

Just why were the both of them here anyways!? Well, I guess Wufei didn't really have any other place to go… didn't 'know' anyone else's house… Except maybe Quatre's… but I didn't even want to imagine what could have went on with him over there.

"Well, looks like we get the couch…" I paused, looking quickly to Heero whom had his arms wrapped around himself, hair still damp from his earlier walk in the thunderstorm. "That is if you're staying here." I made it seem like a nice invitation to leave if he wanted to. But in truth, there was no way I was going to let him go back out in that rain. Nope, not a chance. Besides, what would I do when Wufei woke up! I couldn't be alone with him and carry the burden of his answers by myself!

Thankfully, Heero just shrugged, granting me his company for the night.

So… the question was, do we sleep or do we stand watch over our runaway captive? Heero must have been thinking similarly because neither of us made a move to get more comfortable or grab one of the blankets thrown carelessly around the room.

I sighed. "We've gotta go back to school tomorrow."

"Hn."

"That means sleep would be a good thing."

"Wufei will leave before we wake up."

"You think?"

Heero rolled his eyes, something he had been doing a lot more lately than he had used to. "Yes, otherwise I would not have said it."

I snorted, crossing my arms across my chest defensively. "Stop making fun of my intelligence!"

"I wasn't, you were doing a good enough job on your own."

"Heero… are you trying to be funny?"

"…." He paused, then looked to me in all seriousness. "Yes."

I really didn't want to give him the satisfaction of hearing me laugh, but I couldn't help it on that one. I always did find stupid things funnier when I was tired. And Heero was definitely one weird individual with a strange sense of humor.

I quickly calmed myself after remembering that we had a person sleeping only a few feet away whom really needed his sleep.

"We could watch a movie." I suggested after a ten minute awkward pause.

"Hn."

I sighed once again, head falling to the back of the couch. This was going to be a lo~ong night.

~~~~~~~~~

"Duo."

"Duo wake up!"

Opening my eyes, I stared straight into blackness. It was not a very pleasant thing to wake up to and I jumped up, startled, only to realize that it was pitch black because my head had been wedged in the arm of the chair. Now how did I manage to get into that position?

Groaning at the sudden brightness that came as I lifted myself up, I finally turned to the voice that had been calling me.

Heero was standing over me, a bemused expression on his face as he watched my morning habit of stretching out, trying to wake my brain up enough to get the dumb look off my face.

"What's up?"

He shook his head slightly, sighing as he answered with, "It's morning" like it was the most obvious thing and I was stupid for even asking what he had wanted.

I blinked, confused at why he had woken me up for such a reason.

My silence seemed to irritate him even more. "We have school."

Oh, yeah… that would be a good reason also. Just as that actually processed, it brought about another thought. One about a certain Chinese boy that I assumed was not going to attend school with us, seeing as he hadn't gone for a week or so since his disappearance.

"Where… Wufei…?" I stood up quickly, eyes searching the room for Wufei's presence only to come up empty handed. I was just about to start panicking when Heero's voice brought that to a halt.

"He's in the bathroom."

I quickly closed the mouth that had been opened only to demand the location of Wufei, slightly embarrassed. Yeah, it was pretty stupid of me to just jump to the conclusion that he had disappeared again… but… that was what Wufei did, just disappeared on us in a blink of an eye! He should really take up magic. I knew some street vendors who made a pretty profit with their afternoon lunch shows…

I let out a relieved sigh, falling back down to the sofa I had been tangled up against just moments before.

"I fell asleep." I stated, looking up to Heero briefly to see that he looked pretty exhausted.

Ok, now I felt a tad bit guilty when he said, "You fell asleep about three hours ago." Apparently, Mr. Perfect here had not fallen into the pits of slumber like I had. Made me feel a little bad for having him stay up alone… but a little peeved that he had outdone me.

Ugh! What was wrong with me! I was starting to see Heero as competition! For what? Staying up late?

Memories of last night caught up with me and I distinctively remember some strange discussion me and Heero had had… a couple hours, I think, before I had hit the sack… er… the couch.

~*~/flashback/

"So…" It had been two hours so far, and neither of us, me nor Heero, had come up with anything to occupy ourselves with to pass the time. I decided that another game of 'get to know Heero' was in session. "What's your favorite sport?"

Heero looked at me in annoyance before answering. "Karate."

Karate? Was that a sport? Wasn't that like… self defense… like kickboxing…?

"That's not a sport." I blurted out quickly before actually thinking about what I was saying.

His eyebrow raised slightly in what could have been either amusement or pure 'what the hell is Duo talking about now'. "Yes… it is."

"Yeah… right… and I bet you consider ballet to be one as well."

He got that look on his face like he was about to call me an idiot. Luckily, he just rolled his eyes and spared me the name calling. I think he figured out I was just trying to get him into an actual conversation. Arguments counted as one, right? And I was pretty sure that Heero was better at debating an issue than actually talking about…uh… the weather?

"Ok, ok… what I meant was, what was you favorite… uh… outside sport. You know, like baseball, basketball…" I coughed, "Volleyball… tennis… uh…" I stopped there, finding myself out of ideas. I would have said football… but somehow figure that Heero wasn't really the type to willingly wear shoulder pads and slap teammates on the ass for good play.

"Basketball." He said quickly, not even having to think about it.

"Really! Me too!"

Silence. Well that conversation was a flop.

"I bet I could take you." I hadn't thought he heard me, because he was silent for a minute before responding.

"In your dreams."

"I beat Trowa during PE, one on one."

"And your point would be…?"

"Hey! Trowa is good… and tall, for your information!"

He smirked. "You only won because Quatre was on the sidelines and he got distracted."

I gaped at him. "You were watching that!? No… scratch that… You knew that Trowa dug Quatre?"

He tiredly snorted in annoyance while bringing his hands up to rub at his temples. I didn't really think he had a headache, he was probably just putting up a front and trying to make it seem like he was irritated! Ch' … I wasn't 'that' annoying, thank you very much!

I growled, starting to get a little 'irritated' myself. There was only so many weeks I could take of someone treating me like a li'l insect that could be squished! "I could still beat you." I blurted out.

"No you couldn't."

"Could to."

"Give it up Duo, you are just too short."

"And since when have you been any taller than me!?" I yelled, a little softer than I would have normally, considering the person sleeping only a few feet away. Wasn't I so nice to remember Wufei's beauty sleep?

He just crossed his arms and looked away, probably finding the couch fabric to be more interesting than me.

"Well… I bet you aren't all that good at karate…" I grumbled after a few moments of glaring at him.

"I could take 'you.'"

"Could not!"

"Since when did you take Karate? I thought it wasn't considered a 'sport' to 'Duo the master of sports'."

"Hah! You just admitted I was better than you!"

"Keep your voice down."

"You're louder than me!"

"Duo…"

~*~/end flashback/

I groaned, remember last nights bickering. I had to admit… it was fun… in a way. Until Heero nearly chocked me to death with the blanket I had been using. Well, I wasn't really expecting him to enjoy it as much as I did… not with that temper of his.

Stretching, I finally decided to get up and change for the horrible day of school I would probably have. Heero seemed to have already found an old pair of jeans to wear. Must have dug it out of my dresser. His other clothes, the ones he had slept in, were probably mud splattered and overall just gross.

"Maxwell."

Wufei's voice carried through the room and I looked up, surprised to see him standing in the bathroom doorway. A good nights sleep seemed to have done him a lot of good. His skin didn't seem as pale and his clothes looked less… torn for some reason.

"Wu! How ya feeling?!" I grinned at the hint of annoyance he directed towards me from the chirpiness of my voice. "Ah… don't be so sour so early in the morning! We haven't seen you in… forever! Now sit and talk before we have to leave for our boring lives. Sit, sit!" I motioned for him to move over to the couch, but he just stood his ground, head shaking slightly.

"I don't have time."

The smile slipped off of my face. "Huh? Don't tell me your not going to stay to at least… uh 'explain' some very important things that have been going on." He just stared at me, looking a little uncomfortable, very un-Wufei like.

" 'Cause seriously Wu, I have really no clue what this whole thing is about. Sure… I have the back stories, coming from other people, but not a single fucking fact from your mouth! We've been running around in circles for days trying to find you and when we finally do, you just up and disappear from the hospital, nearly giving us a heart attack. Oh, and do I have to mention what you did to poor Quatre?" My eyes narrowed slightly at him from across the room, not really paying to mind that he was looking a little nervous from my not-so-nice demands. I hadn't really meant to go off on him… nope, hadn't meant to at all… but it was morning… and I was grumpy. What more do I have to say?

"Don't you think you owe us at least a few minutes before you go running away, leaving us in the dark again?!"

He flinched, partially from the tone my voice had taken on.

"We're going to be late." Heero had moved to stand beside me, eyes only glancing in my direction for a moment before turning towards the window, the one we would most likely be climbing out of this morning. Great. knowing me I'd probably fall on the way up and rip my clothes…. or do something else equally embarrassing.

I sighed, motioning for Heero to follow me as we made our way to the dreadful window. Wufei didn't move from his position, even as I asked him, "You going to be staying here? We'll be back after school… in case…" I really wanted to demand that he stayed and waited for us to question him. But I didn't. For some reason I was getting the impression that he was not going to talk about it. At least I got to scold him a bit first!

"I won't be here when you get back."

I paused, dropping the window latch to look at Wufei's strange behavior. He was fidgeting. Fidgeting! Him! How fucked up was that?

"Umm…" I was one step closer to just calling school off. It could wait… a while… I guess. If my parents hadn't cared that I was gone for so long, then I was pretty sure they wouldn't mind a call from the attendance office saying I was missing a class or two.

Heero stepped in front of me, blocking off my view for a seconds time to ask Wufei, "Are you going to run?" He made the question sound like an accusation, like if he were to say yes to that, he would become some… horrible person! Who knows, Heero could of thought running to be a weakness for all I knew. Damn, he must have thought 'I' was weak… seeing as I had run from home as well…

Ugh! I've really got to stop over analyzing things!

"No. I won't run." The look of determination he gave Heero had me surprised. I had seriously thought that he was going to put his tail between his legs and split! Run out of town, get away, far from evil people who wanted to control him.

Heh, I was getting a little overdramatic here.

"Then where are you going?" I asked, moving around Heero to see Wufei's eyes drop to the ground. He wasn't scared, or nervous like one would think someone in that position would be. By the clenched fists, shoulders slightly shaking had me guessing that he was seriously pissed off. "Wu…?"

"I'm going to find… my boss." The words were whispered, but I could still easily make them out, seeing as the room had been so silent during the short pause.

"No way!" His head lifted back up quickly as I advanced. "Nuh uh, we did not almost get killed finding you so that you could just up and go back!"

Wufei was now glaring at me, not seeming to be affected by my anger any longer. "I never said I was going to go back."

My face dropped its angry scowl. "…eh?"

"I've got something I need to do." He was not wavering at all. Whatever it was he had on mind, I didn't think I was going to be able to convince him to spit it out, or give it up. But, that didn't mean I was going to stop trying.

"Right… and that something involves your boss." I couldn't help the sarcasm in my voice as I said that, earning a sharp look from Heero, as if scolding me for sounding so rude.

Wufei nodded his head. "Correct."

"Your crazy."

"Maxwell…"

"I swear Chang! You are one hundred percent lunatic! What do you think is going to happen when you go back to that… that…" I didn't want to say it… or even think about what that man had put Wufei through. And Wufei knew all of that stuff! He knew way more than me and my imaginative mind! Yet he still wanted to go back to his fucked up boss! For what? What was so important that he 'had' to go back? He was an idiot!

"Duo. We have to go to school." Heero tugged harshly on my arm, pulling me in the direction of the window.

"But… Heero! We can't just let him…"

"Duo." He sounded a little angry… or maybe it was just my imagination. "Leave it alone."

"What?!" I yanked my hand out of his grip, only to find him clutching onto my arm with his other hand. "Leave it alone?!"

"It isn't any of our business."

"But…"

I stopped, at a loss for words. Once again I found myself feeling sick at my behavior. Once again I had been butting into stuff that wasn't my business. No… no… I had only been doing this because I was worried… I was supposed too…

'Someone' had to talk sense into him! That was what friends did… Right?

But… Wufei wasn't going to change his mind. By the looks of him, you'd have to tie him up to keep him from doing what he was set on doing. And tying him up was the last thing I would want to do to him. Especially after all that he had been through.

"At least…" I looked up to Wufei, hoping that he understood how much his decision was hurting me. "Get some more rest before you leave."

Giving one last heavy sigh, I let Heero help me up through the window, leaving Wufei, who was looking rather tired again, behind. I suppose I should have gone through the front door… like I usually had every morning. But right then, I don't think I would have been able to deal with them, my 'parents', if they had not yet left for work.

Heero finally stopped walking, half dragging me behind, when we were far from my neighborhood, far from my house and Wufei, who was hopefully resting inside.

I don't know why he did it, if he could sense my frustration and anger towards Wufei's plans, but Heero pulled me forward, quickly wrapping his arms around me. My forehead dropped down to rest on his shoulder automatically and I took a couple deep breaths, trying to calm myself inside his embrace.

"He knows what he's doing." Heero tried to reassure, tightening his hold on me, hand coming up to absently pet at my hair. I would have, under normal circumstances, felt at least a little awkward with him acting so nice to me… but I couldn't find myself to care one way or another right then.

I groaned. "I know. But it was worth a shot."

I think he snorted, amused, before finally breaking his hold of me, slowly so as not to cause me to fall. "We're going to be late."

Ugh! Did he have to remind me… again? "Yeah, yeah. I get it already, Yuy! You'd think you've never missed a day of school in your life before!"

"I haven't."

"Liar! You weren't in English last Thursday!"

"So, I still went to the other classes."

"But you 'still' missed school!"

"No… I only missed one class. Not the whole day. So technically I haven't missed a day of school."

"And I am supposed to believe that that was your first time skipping?"

"Yes."

"Heero! You are such a crappy liar!"

"And you are better?"

"Ohh… did I just get a confession out of you?"

"…huh?"

"You just admitted that you lied!"

"…."

"Admit it!"

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"Liar!"

TBC.

-~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~-

Ok, so I know some of your are probably disappointed in Wufei's behavior… but… I didn't think that he would really want to talk about his situation so soon, ya know? Anyways, next chapter might have a little bit more of Wufei plus a whole lot of Quatre for those of you who were waiting on that one. Hope you liked this chapter, the action is going to start 'real' soon!

Review Responses:

TalonSage: Lol, I sorry! Gya, your review was funny *chuckles*. Don't really know why O.o… heh… heh. Thanks for Reviewing. Sorry, SORRY about the cliffhanger in the last chapter!

Storm410: Oh man… yes, you are one ODD person. ^.^ And Yes, yes, chocolate muffins would do nicely!! Thanky for the review!

Page of Wands: Lol, glad you liked. As for the Duo dying thing… umm.. I have no idea when I am going to add that in. I have the ending… I have Duo's reason for not dying… but they sort of don't want to fit together! Gah! I'll figure it out. I was actually playing with the idea of making Duo's secret into a side story type ting to be posted later… but then… hmmm… well, it will come to me eventually!

Rudete: *chuckles* yes, and more cuddling!!!

YumeMaxwell-Yuy: Mm! More 2x1... er… hopefully soon. Can't make any promises. ^.^'