Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Wasurenai yo - I won’t forget ❯ Chapter 8
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: priscel 
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Suspense / Drama / Action / Shounen | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 01.12.2007 | Pages: 4 | Words: 5.4K | Visits: 234 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Suspense / Drama / Action / Shounen | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 01.12.2007 | Pages: 4 | Words: 5.4K | Visits: 234 | Status: Work In Progress
Disclaimers: I garner no profit from this fic. I don't own nor did I create the GW universe, I'm simply letting my imagination have its wicked way with the characters therein. ^_^
Warnings: Angst, AU, Duo torture, language
Pairings: 1+2, 1+R, 3+4, 5xS, eventual 1x2, 3x4
AN: Long awaited update, ^_^, and a lengthy one at that.
Feedback is appreciated.
Wasurenai yo
by priscel
eight
Daylight gave way to the azure hues of the evening sky. The Inn came alive with sounds other than those made by its occupants, with the creaking stairs, groaning metal and closing doors even though there was no one there. Bishop had told them what to expect now that the Inn was fairly empty and sounds of the Inn adjusting to temperature shifts could be clearly heard. Duo shifted at the creak from the stairs, usually that meant someone was coming down them but he didn't see anyone. He went back to his exploration of the large laundry basket of items that had been left behind in the rooms and added to the faded basket over time. Bishop had told them that it had once belonged to a hippie family who'd disappeared in the mountains and that the basket had been thrown away, burnt and stolen many times (though none of them believed that last part because of its gaudy, muted-green color) but always could be found holding the forgotten items.
"Bishop can sure spin tales," Duo snorted and jumped at the loud clack from the den behind him. He peered into the den where the TV was off and saw no other movement. No one was there but him on the floor in front of the reception desk surrounded by half the contents of the large laundry basket. He settled back into his scavenger hunt when silence answered his tensed frame.
Luckily for Duo, there were enough odds and ends/hand-me downs left behind that he could dress warmly and not look like a waif in the process. He tugged the black sweater over his head with a wince. He shook it off, holding tightly to the feeling that he was making the right decision. How light he felt even though his back felt like someone had took a machete to it and then there was his hip. He stood up, wriggling his bare toes peeking out from beneath the dusty brown cargo pants he wore. He shifted his weight from one leg to the other, wincing at the bone deep ache on his left side. He slipped on some socks and was putting on too big shoes when a hand descended on his head and slowly almost carefully stroked his head as if he were someone's precious pet. He fisted his hands against the urge to knock the hand off and growled, "Don't do that."
Hank laughed. "Wha? You don't like the comforting touch?"
Duo shook off Hank's hand, glaring with a pout. "No, that's something Alice does. It always makes me feel like I'm being petted."
"Haha, and I betcha didn't know she calls you furball number two. Though I think you'd make a better Chihuahua." Hank said good naturedly, squeezing Duo's shoulder when Duo glowered at him. "You're a good kid. I knew that much from the get go." Hank added in a half whisper.
"Hm?" Duo gave him a confused look.
"Nothin'," Hank smiled with a shake of his wavy-fuzz covered head.
Duo glared at Hank's hand as he removed it from his shoulder on route to his head.
Hank laughed, putting his hands in his pockets instead, "Look, you should head back and have some diner. Alice said that Cedric will be coming down to join us. I have one more person to get."
Duo nodded, watching Hank disappear down the hall he had stumbled through earlier that day before pulling out the backpack full of goodies that he had unwittingly hidden beneath the clothes when he had begun his scavenging. Duo tied a coat around his waist and heard the clink of change in the pockets. He'd been surprised himself by the forgotten credits and pre-colony cents he'd found among the clothes. 'The style of clothing hasn't changed much since then,' he commented as he tossed a pair of ripped jeans back into the box. He really loved precolony stuff and couldn't help but wonder at his luck. The things he'd found would last him for a while and then the old money... once things got better he'd be able to have them appraised or auctioned. He shouldered his book bag, passing through the lobby to the stairwell and glimpsing a head of light blond hair before ascending the stairs. Once in his room, he closed the door for the last time. He locked it and took a look around as he pulled his shoulder length hair up into a ponytail, his eyes lingering on his bedside table where the hairties Tamara and Maggie had collected for him still sat. He pocketed a few of them before slipping out onto the terrace.
"Duo..." He heard the whisper, turning to face the stranger who spoke his name with such familiarity. He studied the shaggy haired teen watching him as if he'd seen a ghost, holding his right arm close to his side. 'Did they leave someone behind?' he wondered even though he didn't remember ever seeing the teen around the others and forgetting the fact that other teen had said his name which none of the others knew... that he hadn't known until a few hours ago. He looked him over again, this time taking in his clothing; he was wearing a dark blue shirt beneath a beat up jean jacket with similarly styled jeans that accentuated his thighs.
'I'm glad he didn't throw it away.' He thought eyeing the jacket even as his brows furrowed and his lazy grin vanished in the face of his confusion. 'Was that a memory? Do I know him?' his hand came up to cover the right side of his head, an aching throb was starting to develop beneath the scar over his right brow. He felt the words forming on the tip of his tongue. He didn't see the shaggy haired teen's movement until he was wrapped in the other boy's arms and hugged to the point of being crushed.
Duo couldn't breathe as fire laced up his back from the healing wounds that reopened. He struggled to get the shaggy haired teen to loosen his hold on him but it seemed pointless. He panted when air return to his lungs but he instantly froze when the other boy kissed him. He was surprised by the intensity of it. He was being held in a way he never believed would happen and was practically being devoured through the kiss. He was being smothered by someone who missed him. Someone he could almost remember and he didn't know if he wanted to remember not if it meant more pain. Duo's eyes burned from the tears prickling in them as the throb in his head grew and memories followed.
'This is too much,' he whimpered at the throbbing ache. Duo grabbed the over friendly teen's right hand as he shakily touched his face and ducked under it, wrenching it back and up between the shaggy haired teen's shoulders with a strength and speed that surprised even him.
There was something faintly familiar that whispered to him that this person was important. The other boy was half up on his toes, his back arched and taut as his body instinctively tried to relieve the pressure in his arm. The pain he saw in the boy's, now that he was closer, drawn face made him loosen his hold a little, he was still pissed. Duo leaned in close to the other teen's ear and panted, "No matter who the hell you think you are, don't act like you know me."
Duo felt the other teen stiffen as he looked back at him with a shocked expression. Duo saw it then, blue, the intense blue from his dreams currently resided in irises of the boy in front of him.
"Duo, you-" He didn't want to hear it not if it meant more painful memories. He pushed the boy forward with a twist and punched him in his solar plexus. The boy collapsed to his knees and Duo's hand went back up to his head. A flash of a memory- the messy haired boy unaffected by his fist and then darkness when the shaggy haired teen gave him a punch like the one he’d dealt him moments ago.
"Heero." Duo half breathed before covering his mouth, his body moving without him having to tell it to as he hobbled past the crouching teen and stumbled down the stairs towards the pool. He didn't look back as he made his way past the second hearth on the opposite side of the pool and out to the cars he'd seen at the back of the Inn. He stumbled around a palm tree and met a smiling Fred.
"Hey Honey, whatya say we runaway and get married?" Fred said in a singsong voice, holding one arm open for Duo to come in to and smiling as he put the cigar to his lips with the other.
"That's fine."
"We can even have 2.5 kids and a little place in the mountains." Fred said around his cigar before taking a final draw on it and crushing the lit end into the ground under his booted foot.
"Ok, let's go." Duo said his eyes darting around the area and not really paying attention to what Fred was saying.
"Hey, do you know what you just agreed to?" Fred was wearing overalls, his turtle neck sleeves rolled up to his biceps as he studied Duo's antsy movements.
Duo shifted his backpack, a light sheen of sweat on his face as he stared into dark brown eyes. "You're heading out right? Can't you take me with you?"
"They'll know you went with me and Cedric-"
"It doesn't matter." Duo gritted his teeth to fight off the dizziness. "Just... I can pay you."
Fred shook his head, running his hand through his spiked hair and smiled. "How can I refuse when you agreed to have my babies?"
"What?!" Duo sputtered his face flushing.
Fred laughed, taking Duo's backpack. "Come on sweetheart."
"I'm not your sweetheart." Duo followed with his hands in his pockets.
They came to a stop at a tinted windowed, dark green station wagon, opening the back where Duo watched Fred push stuff around, cover and uncover other things before tossing Duo's backpack over the backseat with a shrug of his shoulders.
"I have important stuff in there." Duo groused when he heard his backpack bounce and something crack when it hit the floor of the car.
"I'll replace it." Fred smirked at him, pulling the hood half down. "Get inside and make yourself comfortable. I gotta go get something from my room then we'll go."
Fred was off before Duo could warn him that Hank was probably still in the hall. Duo went to the passenger side and wondered if Fred had unlocked it when he heard it honk and the locks shift. He smiled; glad that he wouldn't have to stand out in the open. He didn't want that person, Heero, to find him. He didn't want any more painful memories. He didn't want to remember.
"Heero," he whispered to himself, liking the way the 'e's rolled into the 'r,' but unsure of the man himself. He sat down and felt the car bounce a little more than it should have from his weight alone.
Duo glanced at the rearview mirror and saw something move in the back of the car. He had lowered his foot quietly, preparing to sneak around to the back when the door slammed shut and Fred smiled at him in the mirror.
"I didn't think you'd still be here."
"We're still going?" Duo hurriedly pulled his leg inside when Fred came over and closed his door. He watched as the window lowered and Fred leaned on it, watching him.
"Yes, but I'm not intending to come back here. You sure you want to do this?" Fred smiled as Duo shifted in his seat and stole furtive glances at the Inn through the mirror.
"Yes," there was no hesitance in his answer.
Fred made as if he would shrug but leaned in kissing Duo's cheek before darting around and hopping into the driver's seat. "You're wish is my command, honey."
"I'm not your honey." Duo grumbled with lowered lashes, feeling oddly comfortable with the pretentious man.
"Hmm... So we're not a couple anymore? The shame! Let's see, you look like you're angry, did you know you're hot when you're angry." Fred smirked at Duo's arched brows, "Great you accepted my apology so that means we can go straight to the make up sex." Fred gave Duo a lecherous grin, holding back his laughter when Duo grumbled and turned away.
After a while on the road, Fred noticed how Duo gradually began to slump in his seat, his head resting against the side of the door as the wind blew his long bangs across his face. Duo's eyes were also half-closed though he could see those violet orbs shifting over the passing landscape. He didn't mind the peaceful moment, especially if it afforded him memories like this.
'Maybe nothing else mattered besides this,' he wondered, 'Could I start over and let everything else go?' He drove on, glancing at Duo who flinched when he hit a bump in the road that caused him to bump his head. He smiled as Duo invaded his glove compartment, he didn't get the reaction he had hoped for earlier. It was unnatural for the teen to be so still and quiet, at least judging by how he behaved when he wasn't drugged up. He smirked to himself, quickly replacing it with a serious look, "Hey, you look bored. I could pull over and you could- !"
The rolled-up papers met the side of his head as he laughed and swerved off of North Highway to the right. He glanced back with a smile when he saw that he hadn't missed the turn he was looking for. Duo swatted him again. "Ok, it was just a suggestion," he conceded in an amused grumble.
Satisfied, Duo smirked as he settled back into his seat and unrolled the wad of papers to see the business section of the Sunday paper from last year. He immersed himself in it, an occasional bump in the road rousing his eyes to take in the arid landscape as its conformation changed from ridged, desert terrain to scattered clumps of brush and green hilly ranges. Sitting and listening to the radio, Duo felt that from where he sat it really didn't seem like there was anything wrong with the world. He glanced up from his reading as he shuffled the paper to the Comics section and listlessly read a sign saying 'Welcome to Nevada' as it passed his window. "Where are we going?"
Fred quirked a brow in amusement, 'A little late now.' "I thought it didn't matter where I was taking you." Fred smiled at Duo's faint blush as he held his gaze, "Las Vegas then a little place called Las Cruces, New Mexico." Fred half turned in his seat, keeping an eye on the road. "I was serious about the marrying part and I just happen to know of a mountain home for sale in Las Cruces."
Duo blinked at him owlishly. "Wha-" he got out, coming out of his stupor even though a part of him said that it was ironic- him leaving Death Valley for Las Cruces. He found himself burging on a laugh when scuffing noises in the back had his brows bunching instead.
"And the doggie too?" The failed whisper caught the attention of both men.
"Shh."
Duo ignored the man in the driver's seat in favor of watching the moving lumps behind the backseat.
"Tamara?" Duo called back and Fred slowed and eventually pulled off the road to a sandy shoulder.
"Tamara, I know you're back there, who else is with you?"
"Sorry Drew."
Fred sighed, resting his head on the steering wheel for a dramatic effect, "And everything was going so well."
Duo glared at him and Fred smiled, that was one thing about him that annoyed Duo most- his false smiles. Duo glared, he didn't know how he could tell. And something was off about this whole thing, it niggled at him that he couldn't figured out what it was. He caught the tail end of Fred's fading smile as the older man fished out another cigar from the front pocket of his overalls and began nibbling on its end. Fred patted his pockets and met Duo's narrowed violets. "I wasn't going to smoke in the car sweetheart." Fred said, his voice full of mirth as he slipped outside the car and out of the crumpled newspaper's reach.
"Tamara, who else?" He said firmly and Tamara's pigtail peeked out from under a navy blue tarp.
"Emy's here."
"No, I'm not."
"But we only came 'cuz you can't leave without Lanely." Tamara mumbled before her pigtail disappeared beneath the tarp and her headless doll was held out in its place, "She missed you and said that she'd stay with you to chase away the bad dreams."
Emanuel crawled over the back seat and somehow missed the seat all together and fell on the floor.
Duo turned to the older man who snickered as he leaned on the driver's side window, "Well now we have the kids, though there is this procedure where..." He trailed off intentionally, with a wag of an eyebrow.
Duo turned away from him again to instead watch Tamara climb up on the armrest between his seat and Fred's, a smirk returning to his face when she placed the headless doll in his arms. He'd been content staring at Lanely until Tamara began wiggling in place.
"What's the matter?" he asked, his expression dopey but thoughtful.
Duo watched her glance to the left at Fred who took another puff on his cigar and stepped away further away from the door. Tamara pursed her lips in thought before nodding to herself, having come to some decision. He smirked at her when she tried to wiggle one finger in the come here gesture but ended up moving her whole hand with her finger still extended. She glanced at Fred one more time before pressing her nose to Duo's ear and covering them both with her cupped hand, "I gotta go."
Duo blinked, mauling it over in his mind what she meant when it dawned on him. "Damn-dang it," he covered quickly as Tamara kept her eyes downcast and rolled tiny lint balls from the loose strains on her corduroy overalls. "Sorry, sweets. It's not a problem really." He smiled in relief when her head rose enough that he could see her eyes, "Fred?"
"Yes, Baby?"
Duo snorted, that was another thing Fred did that annoyed him, he'd let that one go for now. "How far is the nearest gas station or store with a restroom?"
"Why?" A peculiar glint in Fred's eye had Duo waving him away, muttering forget it and taking Tamara out to a thicket nearby. He was surprised that Tamara handled using the bushes better than most people he had known, or at least he could remember. He took Emy next and heard Tamara squeal and whine upon his return. A divot formed between his eyebrows when he made his way around the front of the car with Emanuel holding his hand with both of his. He watched Fred throw something and the jumping girl fly after it.
"What are you doing?" He asked, with a lopsided smirk.
Fred turned to him with a huge smile, "Playing fetch."
Tamara returned with the doll clutched to her chest, a brilliant peel of laughter threatening to spill out from behind her smiling lips as she watched Fred in anticipation.
"What?" Fred queried, flicking the remaining bud of his cigar off into the street, "It keeps her busy."
"She's not a dog."
Fred snatched the headless doll out of Tamara's arms, shook it before her face and threw it. They both watched as both Emanuel and Tamara ran after it. Mocha eyes gazed smugly back at Duo, "You could've fooled me."
"And you expect to father children?" Fred grinned at him and Duo snorted with a flush spreading across his cheeks. 'The guy seemed easy enough to read,' he grumbled to himself and he made it a point to ignore the older man's piercing gaze. Duo stooped down and caught both Emanuel and Tamara when they came running back to them, wincing when he fell to his left knee.
"Drew." Duo felt the small hands on his and he eased his grip on the two stowaways in front of him.
''See Lanely was right. You can't go. You should stay with me 'cuz 'cuz we can be a family." The last came out as a mutter as Tamara pouted and gripped her doll in both hands.
Duo smiled apologetically, favoring his side when he tried to stand back up. 'I guess I forgot my cane.' He grimaced, 'I sound like an old man saying that.' He smiled at the two staring at him with concern, messing Emy's hair when he hugged him around his neck.
"It's D-" he thought about, hesitating for a reason he couldn't place, "Call me Duo and it's ok. We have to get you guys back. I'm sure they're going crazy looking for you."
Tamara shook her head fiercely, opening her mouth to speak but clamping it shut. She hugged Lanely to her chest as she looked down at the ground. Duo started to reach for her when Emy shifted, letting his arms hang loosely around Duo's neck. He dropped his head so that his chin rested on his chest and his hair swept down toward his face but Duo could still see his defeated pout.
He sighed, it wasn't like he really wanted to go back there. 'Maybe I can hide in the back seat and... oh.' Duo's back stiffened as the older man came up behind him. He really hadn't forgotten him, not really.
"I told you I wasn't going back."
Duo swallowed at the hard tone from the usually flirtatious man, "I know, but they can't go with us." 'Right, using 'us' might help a bit though there isn't. If it'll get him not to be so single-minded.' He smiled and half turned away when the teen's face from earlier flashed in his mind.
"Then we can leave them here." Fred snorted, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Fuck no." Pain forgotten for the moment, Duo rose to his feet to face him and Emy dropped his arms as he and Tamara watched the two of them.
Duo glared at Fred and held it in the face of the older man's tight expression.
Fred looked him over, thinking and caught sight of the pouting, kicked puppy-like faces the two stowaways were making behind Duo. He stretched and turned away from them, "I'm immune to that you little runts."
Tamara and Emy gave each other curious glances and Duo's rigid stance became lax at the humbled gruffness of Fred's voice, his hand drifting to his left hip.
Fred turned to them and smiled, "We'll go."
Duo smiled and gasped when the older man was suddenly in his face, his lips a breath away from his. He stared into Fred's mocha colored eyes, trying to keep his surprise from showing. Fred smirked at him before rubbing his coarse cheek against Duo's smooth one, his lips stopping at his ear, "On the condition that you stay with me."
"Wait-" Duo blushed not sure why he was but cursing his hip when it locked up on him as Fred moved away.
"Come on runts, back in the car." Fred swooped in on the two stowaways who were talking in loud whispers trying to be secretive but failing. They both squealed when they were heft over his shoulders and laughed helplessly as he put them in the back seats.
"Shit!" he muttered the expletive through gritted teeth as he rubbed the top of his head where it had hit the roof of the car. He squinted out one tear filled eye at the cause of his start, Tamara came up between the seats using his arm as leverage to get up fully on the armrest and latched on to his arm with her other one once she considered herself stable enough.
"Tamara."
"No."
"You just left."
"No, that was ten minutes ago." Tamara's nose scrunched up to match her slowly pouty lips.
Duo's hand dropped to his lap. He glanced at the dash and saw that it had been that long. 'I must've dozed,' he figured, trying to loosen her fingers from his arm. A twinge of pain from his side made him grimace and he tried again to get his arm back that Tamara didn't seem ready to relinquish, "Tamara. Come on, you can't stay here with me."
"Yes, I can."
"Tamara, you got family-"
"No, I don't," came her muffled retort as she shook her head vigorously against his arm. "You're my alien. I only have you." The last part was much quieter as she glanced at Lanely in Duo's lap.
Taken aback, Duo turned to her, shifting in his seat to ease the pressure on his left side. Big teary brown eyes stared back at him, imploring that he reconsider. He looked her over half wanting to say yes but he knew better. What could he offer her that a good foster home couldn't? Solo would've been quick to answer that. He closed his eyes; Tamara had always struck a cord in him. He thought back and wondered if he had the same look when Father Maxwell and Sister Helen consoled him after the third, then the seventh family passed him over for someone younger, someone quieter, someone less wild, someone not him.
Though he seriously doubted that Tamara would have the same problems.
'Why's everyone so lonely?' He wanted to know what he'd missed but he wouldn't go back to that other boy. He'd get a book or a newspaper but he wouldn't go to him. From what he could tell about himself, he was 16 or 17 and like Fred had said, he could be easily mistaken as younger than that. Even though he had his memories up until he got on Howard's ship, he still couldn't remember much after that.
No, he wasn't being honest with himself. There was Heero. Pieces of memory of Heero bleeding, glaring, and smiling. He chuckled to himself, his hand splaying over his face as Tamara rubbed her face into his arm with a sniffle. Her small arms wrapping around his as she pulled it closer to her body. He heard the rear door open and felt her stiffen against him.
The silence was too much. 'What's Fred doing?' He wondered, though he hadn't even noticed when the older man had left with them the first time.
"Who are you?" Duo's brows bunched together at Tamara's question, alert though not too worried because her tone was more curious than frighten. He knew that if it was Heero he would've heard traces of that in her voice. Duo froze when he found Heero staring at him through the driver's side window.
In those minutes, there was a quiet exchange between Tamara and the other person before he turned to see a blonde boy smiling gently at Tamara then shift his blue-green gaze to him. They stared at each other for along moment, the blonde's smile growing to blinding proportions as Duo felt his own traitorous lips start to do the same.
Duo swallowed, his eyes jerking back to the brooding dark haired teen that hadn't moved from where he stood.
"Heero," he said in a thick whisper. He watched with a crooked smile when Heero's eyes became slightly round, his distinctive look of surprise, before narrowing as if he wanted to turn away and hide the shyness he seldom showed anyone so openly. Though it could've been shock? At this particular moment he'd bet it was a bit of both while his heart did its damnedest to beat its way out his throat, when he noticed the faint glint in Heero's eyes.
'Heero Yuy never cried.' Duo gasped as he was assaulted by memories, his pulse quickening when he put too much weight on his left side. "No," he whimpered and the blonde teen paled, swaying at the door.
"No," Duo leaned over and slammed the back door, ignoring the blonde's startled gasp even as somewhere in his mind the blonde teen's name surfaced over the sea of memories. ''Sorry Quat," he whispered to himself as the throb in his head returned full force and he slammed his hand down on the auto lock button before either of the stunned teens could get to them.
''D-Duo," Tamara's trembling voice had him hesitating as he climbed into the driver's seat.
''It's ok. It's alright, we'll leave." He refused to look at the shaggy haired teen in the driver's window as he quietly thanked Fred for leaving the car running and stepped on the gas. He was running on instinct again and wasn't sure if he knew how to drive. He didn't notice as his hands moved knowingly to the clutch. He didn't want to think about the past, he didn't want to remember. He heard Tamara scream and felt the car lurch before his head connected with the steering wheel.
tbc
Warnings: Angst, AU, Duo torture, language
Pairings: 1+2, 1+R, 3+4, 5xS, eventual 1x2, 3x4
AN: Long awaited update, ^_^, and a lengthy one at that.
Feedback is appreciated.
Wasurenai yo
by priscel
eight
Daylight gave way to the azure hues of the evening sky. The Inn came alive with sounds other than those made by its occupants, with the creaking stairs, groaning metal and closing doors even though there was no one there. Bishop had told them what to expect now that the Inn was fairly empty and sounds of the Inn adjusting to temperature shifts could be clearly heard. Duo shifted at the creak from the stairs, usually that meant someone was coming down them but he didn't see anyone. He went back to his exploration of the large laundry basket of items that had been left behind in the rooms and added to the faded basket over time. Bishop had told them that it had once belonged to a hippie family who'd disappeared in the mountains and that the basket had been thrown away, burnt and stolen many times (though none of them believed that last part because of its gaudy, muted-green color) but always could be found holding the forgotten items.
"Bishop can sure spin tales," Duo snorted and jumped at the loud clack from the den behind him. He peered into the den where the TV was off and saw no other movement. No one was there but him on the floor in front of the reception desk surrounded by half the contents of the large laundry basket. He settled back into his scavenger hunt when silence answered his tensed frame.
Luckily for Duo, there were enough odds and ends/hand-me downs left behind that he could dress warmly and not look like a waif in the process. He tugged the black sweater over his head with a wince. He shook it off, holding tightly to the feeling that he was making the right decision. How light he felt even though his back felt like someone had took a machete to it and then there was his hip. He stood up, wriggling his bare toes peeking out from beneath the dusty brown cargo pants he wore. He shifted his weight from one leg to the other, wincing at the bone deep ache on his left side. He slipped on some socks and was putting on too big shoes when a hand descended on his head and slowly almost carefully stroked his head as if he were someone's precious pet. He fisted his hands against the urge to knock the hand off and growled, "Don't do that."
Hank laughed. "Wha? You don't like the comforting touch?"
Duo shook off Hank's hand, glaring with a pout. "No, that's something Alice does. It always makes me feel like I'm being petted."
"Haha, and I betcha didn't know she calls you furball number two. Though I think you'd make a better Chihuahua." Hank said good naturedly, squeezing Duo's shoulder when Duo glowered at him. "You're a good kid. I knew that much from the get go." Hank added in a half whisper.
"Hm?" Duo gave him a confused look.
"Nothin'," Hank smiled with a shake of his wavy-fuzz covered head.
Duo glared at Hank's hand as he removed it from his shoulder on route to his head.
Hank laughed, putting his hands in his pockets instead, "Look, you should head back and have some diner. Alice said that Cedric will be coming down to join us. I have one more person to get."
Duo nodded, watching Hank disappear down the hall he had stumbled through earlier that day before pulling out the backpack full of goodies that he had unwittingly hidden beneath the clothes when he had begun his scavenging. Duo tied a coat around his waist and heard the clink of change in the pockets. He'd been surprised himself by the forgotten credits and pre-colony cents he'd found among the clothes. 'The style of clothing hasn't changed much since then,' he commented as he tossed a pair of ripped jeans back into the box. He really loved precolony stuff and couldn't help but wonder at his luck. The things he'd found would last him for a while and then the old money... once things got better he'd be able to have them appraised or auctioned. He shouldered his book bag, passing through the lobby to the stairwell and glimpsing a head of light blond hair before ascending the stairs. Once in his room, he closed the door for the last time. He locked it and took a look around as he pulled his shoulder length hair up into a ponytail, his eyes lingering on his bedside table where the hairties Tamara and Maggie had collected for him still sat. He pocketed a few of them before slipping out onto the terrace.
"Duo..." He heard the whisper, turning to face the stranger who spoke his name with such familiarity. He studied the shaggy haired teen watching him as if he'd seen a ghost, holding his right arm close to his side. 'Did they leave someone behind?' he wondered even though he didn't remember ever seeing the teen around the others and forgetting the fact that other teen had said his name which none of the others knew... that he hadn't known until a few hours ago. He looked him over again, this time taking in his clothing; he was wearing a dark blue shirt beneath a beat up jean jacket with similarly styled jeans that accentuated his thighs.
'I'm glad he didn't throw it away.' He thought eyeing the jacket even as his brows furrowed and his lazy grin vanished in the face of his confusion. 'Was that a memory? Do I know him?' his hand came up to cover the right side of his head, an aching throb was starting to develop beneath the scar over his right brow. He felt the words forming on the tip of his tongue. He didn't see the shaggy haired teen's movement until he was wrapped in the other boy's arms and hugged to the point of being crushed.
Duo couldn't breathe as fire laced up his back from the healing wounds that reopened. He struggled to get the shaggy haired teen to loosen his hold on him but it seemed pointless. He panted when air return to his lungs but he instantly froze when the other boy kissed him. He was surprised by the intensity of it. He was being held in a way he never believed would happen and was practically being devoured through the kiss. He was being smothered by someone who missed him. Someone he could almost remember and he didn't know if he wanted to remember not if it meant more pain. Duo's eyes burned from the tears prickling in them as the throb in his head grew and memories followed.
'This is too much,' he whimpered at the throbbing ache. Duo grabbed the over friendly teen's right hand as he shakily touched his face and ducked under it, wrenching it back and up between the shaggy haired teen's shoulders with a strength and speed that surprised even him.
There was something faintly familiar that whispered to him that this person was important. The other boy was half up on his toes, his back arched and taut as his body instinctively tried to relieve the pressure in his arm. The pain he saw in the boy's, now that he was closer, drawn face made him loosen his hold a little, he was still pissed. Duo leaned in close to the other teen's ear and panted, "No matter who the hell you think you are, don't act like you know me."
Duo felt the other teen stiffen as he looked back at him with a shocked expression. Duo saw it then, blue, the intense blue from his dreams currently resided in irises of the boy in front of him.
"Duo, you-" He didn't want to hear it not if it meant more painful memories. He pushed the boy forward with a twist and punched him in his solar plexus. The boy collapsed to his knees and Duo's hand went back up to his head. A flash of a memory- the messy haired boy unaffected by his fist and then darkness when the shaggy haired teen gave him a punch like the one he’d dealt him moments ago.
"Heero." Duo half breathed before covering his mouth, his body moving without him having to tell it to as he hobbled past the crouching teen and stumbled down the stairs towards the pool. He didn't look back as he made his way past the second hearth on the opposite side of the pool and out to the cars he'd seen at the back of the Inn. He stumbled around a palm tree and met a smiling Fred.
"Hey Honey, whatya say we runaway and get married?" Fred said in a singsong voice, holding one arm open for Duo to come in to and smiling as he put the cigar to his lips with the other.
"That's fine."
"We can even have 2.5 kids and a little place in the mountains." Fred said around his cigar before taking a final draw on it and crushing the lit end into the ground under his booted foot.
"Ok, let's go." Duo said his eyes darting around the area and not really paying attention to what Fred was saying.
"Hey, do you know what you just agreed to?" Fred was wearing overalls, his turtle neck sleeves rolled up to his biceps as he studied Duo's antsy movements.
Duo shifted his backpack, a light sheen of sweat on his face as he stared into dark brown eyes. "You're heading out right? Can't you take me with you?"
"They'll know you went with me and Cedric-"
"It doesn't matter." Duo gritted his teeth to fight off the dizziness. "Just... I can pay you."
Fred shook his head, running his hand through his spiked hair and smiled. "How can I refuse when you agreed to have my babies?"
"What?!" Duo sputtered his face flushing.
Fred laughed, taking Duo's backpack. "Come on sweetheart."
"I'm not your sweetheart." Duo followed with his hands in his pockets.
They came to a stop at a tinted windowed, dark green station wagon, opening the back where Duo watched Fred push stuff around, cover and uncover other things before tossing Duo's backpack over the backseat with a shrug of his shoulders.
"I have important stuff in there." Duo groused when he heard his backpack bounce and something crack when it hit the floor of the car.
"I'll replace it." Fred smirked at him, pulling the hood half down. "Get inside and make yourself comfortable. I gotta go get something from my room then we'll go."
Fred was off before Duo could warn him that Hank was probably still in the hall. Duo went to the passenger side and wondered if Fred had unlocked it when he heard it honk and the locks shift. He smiled; glad that he wouldn't have to stand out in the open. He didn't want that person, Heero, to find him. He didn't want any more painful memories. He didn't want to remember.
"Heero," he whispered to himself, liking the way the 'e's rolled into the 'r,' but unsure of the man himself. He sat down and felt the car bounce a little more than it should have from his weight alone.
Duo glanced at the rearview mirror and saw something move in the back of the car. He had lowered his foot quietly, preparing to sneak around to the back when the door slammed shut and Fred smiled at him in the mirror.
"I didn't think you'd still be here."
"We're still going?" Duo hurriedly pulled his leg inside when Fred came over and closed his door. He watched as the window lowered and Fred leaned on it, watching him.
"Yes, but I'm not intending to come back here. You sure you want to do this?" Fred smiled as Duo shifted in his seat and stole furtive glances at the Inn through the mirror.
"Yes," there was no hesitance in his answer.
Fred made as if he would shrug but leaned in kissing Duo's cheek before darting around and hopping into the driver's seat. "You're wish is my command, honey."
"I'm not your honey." Duo grumbled with lowered lashes, feeling oddly comfortable with the pretentious man.
"Hmm... So we're not a couple anymore? The shame! Let's see, you look like you're angry, did you know you're hot when you're angry." Fred smirked at Duo's arched brows, "Great you accepted my apology so that means we can go straight to the make up sex." Fred gave Duo a lecherous grin, holding back his laughter when Duo grumbled and turned away.
After a while on the road, Fred noticed how Duo gradually began to slump in his seat, his head resting against the side of the door as the wind blew his long bangs across his face. Duo's eyes were also half-closed though he could see those violet orbs shifting over the passing landscape. He didn't mind the peaceful moment, especially if it afforded him memories like this.
'Maybe nothing else mattered besides this,' he wondered, 'Could I start over and let everything else go?' He drove on, glancing at Duo who flinched when he hit a bump in the road that caused him to bump his head. He smiled as Duo invaded his glove compartment, he didn't get the reaction he had hoped for earlier. It was unnatural for the teen to be so still and quiet, at least judging by how he behaved when he wasn't drugged up. He smirked to himself, quickly replacing it with a serious look, "Hey, you look bored. I could pull over and you could- !"
The rolled-up papers met the side of his head as he laughed and swerved off of North Highway to the right. He glanced back with a smile when he saw that he hadn't missed the turn he was looking for. Duo swatted him again. "Ok, it was just a suggestion," he conceded in an amused grumble.
Satisfied, Duo smirked as he settled back into his seat and unrolled the wad of papers to see the business section of the Sunday paper from last year. He immersed himself in it, an occasional bump in the road rousing his eyes to take in the arid landscape as its conformation changed from ridged, desert terrain to scattered clumps of brush and green hilly ranges. Sitting and listening to the radio, Duo felt that from where he sat it really didn't seem like there was anything wrong with the world. He glanced up from his reading as he shuffled the paper to the Comics section and listlessly read a sign saying 'Welcome to Nevada' as it passed his window. "Where are we going?"
Fred quirked a brow in amusement, 'A little late now.' "I thought it didn't matter where I was taking you." Fred smiled at Duo's faint blush as he held his gaze, "Las Vegas then a little place called Las Cruces, New Mexico." Fred half turned in his seat, keeping an eye on the road. "I was serious about the marrying part and I just happen to know of a mountain home for sale in Las Cruces."
Duo blinked at him owlishly. "Wha-" he got out, coming out of his stupor even though a part of him said that it was ironic- him leaving Death Valley for Las Cruces. He found himself burging on a laugh when scuffing noises in the back had his brows bunching instead.
"And the doggie too?" The failed whisper caught the attention of both men.
"Shh."
Duo ignored the man in the driver's seat in favor of watching the moving lumps behind the backseat.
"Tamara?" Duo called back and Fred slowed and eventually pulled off the road to a sandy shoulder.
"Tamara, I know you're back there, who else is with you?"
"Sorry Drew."
Fred sighed, resting his head on the steering wheel for a dramatic effect, "And everything was going so well."
Duo glared at him and Fred smiled, that was one thing about him that annoyed Duo most- his false smiles. Duo glared, he didn't know how he could tell. And something was off about this whole thing, it niggled at him that he couldn't figured out what it was. He caught the tail end of Fred's fading smile as the older man fished out another cigar from the front pocket of his overalls and began nibbling on its end. Fred patted his pockets and met Duo's narrowed violets. "I wasn't going to smoke in the car sweetheart." Fred said, his voice full of mirth as he slipped outside the car and out of the crumpled newspaper's reach.
"Tamara, who else?" He said firmly and Tamara's pigtail peeked out from under a navy blue tarp.
"Emy's here."
"No, I'm not."
"But we only came 'cuz you can't leave without Lanely." Tamara mumbled before her pigtail disappeared beneath the tarp and her headless doll was held out in its place, "She missed you and said that she'd stay with you to chase away the bad dreams."
Emanuel crawled over the back seat and somehow missed the seat all together and fell on the floor.
Duo turned to the older man who snickered as he leaned on the driver's side window, "Well now we have the kids, though there is this procedure where..." He trailed off intentionally, with a wag of an eyebrow.
Duo turned away from him again to instead watch Tamara climb up on the armrest between his seat and Fred's, a smirk returning to his face when she placed the headless doll in his arms. He'd been content staring at Lanely until Tamara began wiggling in place.
"What's the matter?" he asked, his expression dopey but thoughtful.
Duo watched her glance to the left at Fred who took another puff on his cigar and stepped away further away from the door. Tamara pursed her lips in thought before nodding to herself, having come to some decision. He smirked at her when she tried to wiggle one finger in the come here gesture but ended up moving her whole hand with her finger still extended. She glanced at Fred one more time before pressing her nose to Duo's ear and covering them both with her cupped hand, "I gotta go."
Duo blinked, mauling it over in his mind what she meant when it dawned on him. "Damn-dang it," he covered quickly as Tamara kept her eyes downcast and rolled tiny lint balls from the loose strains on her corduroy overalls. "Sorry, sweets. It's not a problem really." He smiled in relief when her head rose enough that he could see her eyes, "Fred?"
"Yes, Baby?"
Duo snorted, that was another thing Fred did that annoyed him, he'd let that one go for now. "How far is the nearest gas station or store with a restroom?"
"Why?" A peculiar glint in Fred's eye had Duo waving him away, muttering forget it and taking Tamara out to a thicket nearby. He was surprised that Tamara handled using the bushes better than most people he had known, or at least he could remember. He took Emy next and heard Tamara squeal and whine upon his return. A divot formed between his eyebrows when he made his way around the front of the car with Emanuel holding his hand with both of his. He watched Fred throw something and the jumping girl fly after it.
"What are you doing?" He asked, with a lopsided smirk.
Fred turned to him with a huge smile, "Playing fetch."
Tamara returned with the doll clutched to her chest, a brilliant peel of laughter threatening to spill out from behind her smiling lips as she watched Fred in anticipation.
"What?" Fred queried, flicking the remaining bud of his cigar off into the street, "It keeps her busy."
"She's not a dog."
Fred snatched the headless doll out of Tamara's arms, shook it before her face and threw it. They both watched as both Emanuel and Tamara ran after it. Mocha eyes gazed smugly back at Duo, "You could've fooled me."
"And you expect to father children?" Fred grinned at him and Duo snorted with a flush spreading across his cheeks. 'The guy seemed easy enough to read,' he grumbled to himself and he made it a point to ignore the older man's piercing gaze. Duo stooped down and caught both Emanuel and Tamara when they came running back to them, wincing when he fell to his left knee.
"Drew." Duo felt the small hands on his and he eased his grip on the two stowaways in front of him.
''See Lanely was right. You can't go. You should stay with me 'cuz 'cuz we can be a family." The last came out as a mutter as Tamara pouted and gripped her doll in both hands.
Duo smiled apologetically, favoring his side when he tried to stand back up. 'I guess I forgot my cane.' He grimaced, 'I sound like an old man saying that.' He smiled at the two staring at him with concern, messing Emy's hair when he hugged him around his neck.
"It's D-" he thought about, hesitating for a reason he couldn't place, "Call me Duo and it's ok. We have to get you guys back. I'm sure they're going crazy looking for you."
Tamara shook her head fiercely, opening her mouth to speak but clamping it shut. She hugged Lanely to her chest as she looked down at the ground. Duo started to reach for her when Emy shifted, letting his arms hang loosely around Duo's neck. He dropped his head so that his chin rested on his chest and his hair swept down toward his face but Duo could still see his defeated pout.
He sighed, it wasn't like he really wanted to go back there. 'Maybe I can hide in the back seat and... oh.' Duo's back stiffened as the older man came up behind him. He really hadn't forgotten him, not really.
"I told you I wasn't going back."
Duo swallowed at the hard tone from the usually flirtatious man, "I know, but they can't go with us." 'Right, using 'us' might help a bit though there isn't. If it'll get him not to be so single-minded.' He smiled and half turned away when the teen's face from earlier flashed in his mind.
"Then we can leave them here." Fred snorted, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Fuck no." Pain forgotten for the moment, Duo rose to his feet to face him and Emy dropped his arms as he and Tamara watched the two of them.
Duo glared at Fred and held it in the face of the older man's tight expression.
Fred looked him over, thinking and caught sight of the pouting, kicked puppy-like faces the two stowaways were making behind Duo. He stretched and turned away from them, "I'm immune to that you little runts."
Tamara and Emy gave each other curious glances and Duo's rigid stance became lax at the humbled gruffness of Fred's voice, his hand drifting to his left hip.
Fred turned to them and smiled, "We'll go."
Duo smiled and gasped when the older man was suddenly in his face, his lips a breath away from his. He stared into Fred's mocha colored eyes, trying to keep his surprise from showing. Fred smirked at him before rubbing his coarse cheek against Duo's smooth one, his lips stopping at his ear, "On the condition that you stay with me."
"Wait-" Duo blushed not sure why he was but cursing his hip when it locked up on him as Fred moved away.
"Come on runts, back in the car." Fred swooped in on the two stowaways who were talking in loud whispers trying to be secretive but failing. They both squealed when they were heft over his shoulders and laughed helplessly as he put them in the back seats.
oooOoooOoooOooo
What had he gotten himself into? He really didn't know, but this wasn't L2 and though the guy royally freaked him out with the whole homestead and advanced planning thing, what he'd heard in the man was more loneliness than anything. He saw Emy waving to him and pulling Fred a long with him beyond the hearth. He waved once, his eyes locked with Tamara's who held his gaze with a stubborn pout fixed on her face before she was pulled past the hearth. He looked curiously at the dash, he'd been so lost in thought that the forty minutes it took to get back to the Inn slipped past him. 'Shit.'"Shit!" he muttered the expletive through gritted teeth as he rubbed the top of his head where it had hit the roof of the car. He squinted out one tear filled eye at the cause of his start, Tamara came up between the seats using his arm as leverage to get up fully on the armrest and latched on to his arm with her other one once she considered herself stable enough.
"Tamara."
"No."
"You just left."
"No, that was ten minutes ago." Tamara's nose scrunched up to match her slowly pouty lips.
Duo's hand dropped to his lap. He glanced at the dash and saw that it had been that long. 'I must've dozed,' he figured, trying to loosen her fingers from his arm. A twinge of pain from his side made him grimace and he tried again to get his arm back that Tamara didn't seem ready to relinquish, "Tamara. Come on, you can't stay here with me."
"Yes, I can."
"Tamara, you got family-"
"No, I don't," came her muffled retort as she shook her head vigorously against his arm. "You're my alien. I only have you." The last part was much quieter as she glanced at Lanely in Duo's lap.
Taken aback, Duo turned to her, shifting in his seat to ease the pressure on his left side. Big teary brown eyes stared back at him, imploring that he reconsider. He looked her over half wanting to say yes but he knew better. What could he offer her that a good foster home couldn't? Solo would've been quick to answer that. He closed his eyes; Tamara had always struck a cord in him. He thought back and wondered if he had the same look when Father Maxwell and Sister Helen consoled him after the third, then the seventh family passed him over for someone younger, someone quieter, someone less wild, someone not him.
Though he seriously doubted that Tamara would have the same problems.
'Why's everyone so lonely?' He wanted to know what he'd missed but he wouldn't go back to that other boy. He'd get a book or a newspaper but he wouldn't go to him. From what he could tell about himself, he was 16 or 17 and like Fred had said, he could be easily mistaken as younger than that. Even though he had his memories up until he got on Howard's ship, he still couldn't remember much after that.
No, he wasn't being honest with himself. There was Heero. Pieces of memory of Heero bleeding, glaring, and smiling. He chuckled to himself, his hand splaying over his face as Tamara rubbed her face into his arm with a sniffle. Her small arms wrapping around his as she pulled it closer to her body. He heard the rear door open and felt her stiffen against him.
The silence was too much. 'What's Fred doing?' He wondered, though he hadn't even noticed when the older man had left with them the first time.
"Who are you?" Duo's brows bunched together at Tamara's question, alert though not too worried because her tone was more curious than frighten. He knew that if it was Heero he would've heard traces of that in her voice. Duo froze when he found Heero staring at him through the driver's side window.
In those minutes, there was a quiet exchange between Tamara and the other person before he turned to see a blonde boy smiling gently at Tamara then shift his blue-green gaze to him. They stared at each other for along moment, the blonde's smile growing to blinding proportions as Duo felt his own traitorous lips start to do the same.
Duo swallowed, his eyes jerking back to the brooding dark haired teen that hadn't moved from where he stood.
"Heero," he said in a thick whisper. He watched with a crooked smile when Heero's eyes became slightly round, his distinctive look of surprise, before narrowing as if he wanted to turn away and hide the shyness he seldom showed anyone so openly. Though it could've been shock? At this particular moment he'd bet it was a bit of both while his heart did its damnedest to beat its way out his throat, when he noticed the faint glint in Heero's eyes.
'Heero Yuy never cried.' Duo gasped as he was assaulted by memories, his pulse quickening when he put too much weight on his left side. "No," he whimpered and the blonde teen paled, swaying at the door.
"No," Duo leaned over and slammed the back door, ignoring the blonde's startled gasp even as somewhere in his mind the blonde teen's name surfaced over the sea of memories. ''Sorry Quat," he whispered to himself as the throb in his head returned full force and he slammed his hand down on the auto lock button before either of the stunned teens could get to them.
''D-Duo," Tamara's trembling voice had him hesitating as he climbed into the driver's seat.
''It's ok. It's alright, we'll leave." He refused to look at the shaggy haired teen in the driver's window as he quietly thanked Fred for leaving the car running and stepped on the gas. He was running on instinct again and wasn't sure if he knew how to drive. He didn't notice as his hands moved knowingly to the clutch. He didn't want to think about the past, he didn't want to remember. He heard Tamara scream and felt the car lurch before his head connected with the steering wheel.
tbc