Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Winning Duo ❯ Chapter 26
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Calic0cat 
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / / Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 03.30.2003 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.3K | Visits: 1.3K | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / / Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 03.30.2003 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.3K | Visits: 1.3K | Status: Completed
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Title: Winning Duo
Chapter: 26/?
Author: Calic0cat <calic0cat@fastmail.fm>
Story Started: Jan. 2003
Genre: Yaoi, Romance, Humour, Angst
Pairings: Working towards 1x2x5; 3x4; 6x9; others may be implied
Rated: R
Warnings: OOC, Swearing, Shifting POV, Threesome
Archives: At Mediaminer.org under Calic0cat. Anyone with archive permission for my other fics can help themselves; anyone else, please ask.
Disclaimer: Duo and Heero and the rest of the GW gang aren't mine. This story is. Nuff said.
Notes: Starts one year after Endless Waltz. POV changes frequently.
'Thinking'
"Speaking"
*** Time passing or scene change
Author's Notes: I usually write 1x2x1, so a 1x2x5 is a first for me (well, writing one is - I've been reading them for quite a while now, that's the *only* threesome I actually *like*). Feedback is appreciated.
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Duo grimly measured out the maximum dose of cough suppressant and downed it with a grimace. Yuck. He *hated* taking medication. And *this* stuff - well, this stuff was just *gross*. But the pharmacist swore it was the most effective cough medicine he had. 'Ugh! "Been around for years," he says. "You'll get better just to avoid having to take it," he says. Didn't realize he wasn't fucking *joking*!' Duo thought, gagging. He recapped the bottle of Buckley's hastily and stuffed it into his duffle bag. God, that stuff was awful. Though it *did* seem to do the trick. He'd got through the night without coughing - or at least, without coughing enough to wake up Heero or Wufei at any rate.
He checked the time - still too early. Damn. Duo perched on the edge of the bathtub, waiting. He'd managed to be in bed and "asleep" last night before Wufei and Heero joined him, thus dodging the whole goodnight kiss issue. And this morning, he'd joked about having terrible morning breath and fled to get ready. Now, he just needed to kill enough time to be running late so that they wouldn't be thinking about a good morning kiss. He felt kind of bad about dodging the kisses, but he really did *not* want to give whatever he had to Wufei or Heero.
Of course, he felt even *worse* about hiding the whole getting-sick thing from them to start with, but he just couldn't bring himself to wreck the plans for the demos *or* to let them find out he was so pathetic he couldn't handle getting wet and chilled without getting sick. 'I just... can't. But if I keep dodging kissing them... Shit. They're gonna end up thinking I'm mad or something...' Duo thought unhappily. Obviously, he couldn't keep up the facade for long. The question was, how long *could* he safely keep the fact that he was feeling a little under the weather a secret?
'Okay, there's pretty much no chance either of them will be expecting kisses in public, so things should be cool right through the demos. But afterwards... I guess... I guess if I'm still feeling lousy, I'll have to 'fess up. I don't want to give them the wrong impression with the whole not-kissing thing, and I don't think I'd better let it go past the twenty-four hour mark or I *will*...' he decided with a sigh.
Duo was pretty sure that he *could* get through the demos okay. Yeah, he was starting to get a little short of breath, but the cough medicine was keeping the cough itself at bay. And his head hurt, but the ibuprofen should take care of that shortly, and it wasn't like he was actually getting dizzy or anything. The fever - well, the ibuprofen should handle that too and it wasn't all *that* high, or at least he didn't *think* it was. He'd forgot to pick up a thermometer while he was at the drugstore.
Duo checked his watch again. Just a few more minutes...
***
Heero frowned and checked his watch. It wasn't like Duo to be this late. And he had seemed so eager to help out with the demos...
Wufei was getting worried. Well, not really *getting* worried, he'd *been* worried ever since he woke up to realize that either someone had turned the heat *way* up last night or one of his bedmates - namely Duo - was putting out an awful lot of body heat. When he put that together with Duo's coughing spell at the game last night... and the rather long time it seemed to have taken him to just pick up a wrist brace from the drugstore... and that half-awake memory of hearing coughing in the night... and the way Duo had dodged kissing them last night and this morning... 'He's sick. He *must* be. But if I say something and I'm wrong, he's going to think that I still think he's weak... Even though I know better and I've *told* him that...
'And even if I'm right, he'll think that because that's the only reason that he would have for hiding being sick in the first place... So I *can't* say anything without hurting his feelings. But if I *don't* say anything and he overdoes things today and gets *really* sick...' Wufei massaged the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on.
He was stuck. Caught in the trap of his past insults again. Regardless of the fact that he was motivated by love and concern for Duo, saying anything to imply that he believed Duo was ill was almost certain to be interpreted as criticism. So he *couldn't* say anything. 'I'll just have to keep a close eye on him,' Wufei decided reluctantly. 'And maybe warn Heero?' He'd hesitated too long, however, and Duo was hurrying into the room, apologizing for being so pokey and sweeping them out the door and on their way without so much as a good morning kiss. And without Wufei getting a chance to mention his very strong suspicion to Heero.
***
Duo enthusiastically dove into the rehearsal of the planned demo. They'd been able to get practice weapons from the branch office's training facility and while the balance on them was kinda weird, having "knives" to fight with - even if they *were* little more than rubber - definitely added to the realism level. 'Maybe it was just the twenty-four hour flu and I'm almost over it,' he thought hopefully. It had been an hour, maybe two, since he took the medication and he was feeling pretty good right now. No headache, not too light-headed, very little urge to cough. Still a little short of breath, but hey, that was only to be expected. He hadn't done this kind of thing in a while, after all. Teaching a few self-defence classes at the local women's shelter as a favour to one of Hilde's friends was a far cry from sparring with Heero or Fei.
Watching Duo rehearse the first demo with Heero, Wufei had to admit maybe he was wrong. Duo certainly didn't *act* sick right now. 'God, he's gorgeous,' Wufei thought as he watched Duo ducking and whirling to sweep Heero's legs while he was still re-balancing from the kick he'd just thrown. 'So vibrant. Graceful. And he's still so damn *fast*...' Despite himself, Wufei found his gaze drifting to Heero as well, noting the power and strength that was so clearly present. The well-defined muscles and tight... 'Stop that, Chang!' he scolded himself automatically. 'You love *Duo*. *Heero* loves Duo. You should *not* be ogling Heero... What would Duo think if he caught you?'
Actually, Duo would probably grin and ask what took him so long, Wufei realized abruptly. 'If anyone would understand, it would be him. I have no problem believing that he cares for Heero and myself equally deeply. That he loves us, even though he hasn't quite come out and said so since that first indirect admission at the amusement park. Would it be so unbelievable that one or both of us would learn to love the other as well?
'I don't know if I feel as deeply for Heero as for Duo... I haven't really let myself *think* about it. But I do care for him and like to see him happy... And he's definitely very attractive...' Obviously, he was going to *have* to think about this a little - no, a *lot* - more. But if he *did* discover that he felt more for Heero, or could *learn* to feel more for him... and if Heero was willing... Would Duo mind sharing Heero with Wufei as well as Wufei and Heero sharing him? 'Probably not,' Wufei decided, mind only half on the rehearsing pair in front of him. 'As long as he truly believes that we love him...'
And there lay the catch. If Duo *was* feeling ill - hard though that was to believe watching him right now - and was keeping it a secret because he feared they would think him weak - well, Wufei had to wonder whether Duo really *did* believe them yet. Whether he ever *would* genuinely, deep-down, *believe* that they loved him. Or whether the damage caused by their past words and actions ran too deep to be overcome, no matter how much Duo *wanted* to believe them and to trust their love for him.
***
Heero stood to one side and watched as Duo and Wufei ran through their portion of the demo for the first group of agents. It was hard to be sure, but it seemed like Duo's reaction times were maybe just a touch slower than when they had rehearsed their own demo earlier. But then, that shouldn't be too surprising. After all, Duo himself had admitted that he hadn't really had a good sparring session since the war. The types of exercise that he *had* engaged in had been sufficient to maintain his physical condition, but there was no real substitute for the real thing.
'He just doesn't have the same degree of conditioning. That will come back with practice. I should have thought of that when we were rehearsing, though, and stopped after just one run-through. There wasn't much time between our second practice run and the start of the actual demo. At least the break for lunch should be long enough for him to recover and be ready to go again this afternoon,' Heero thought.
Heero's attention slid over to Wufei for a few moments. He hadn't missed the way Wufei had been watching him this morning. That didn't mean that he *understood* it - but then, he wasn't sure that Wufei understood it either. There seemed to be a fair amount of confusion in those dark eyes while they watched him. Along with a mixture of interest... appreciation... and maybe even a hint of - well, lust? Attraction at the very least. And when he put that together with the sort of caring/interested looks that Wufei had been sneaking last night... He ended up with something suspiciously similar to his *own* mixed-up feelings towards Wufei. Those feelings of part-caring, part-attraction that didn't quite match his feelings for Duo but came a little too close for comfort. Feelings that he had *no* idea what the hell he was going to do about.
Duo blocked a blow from Wufei and let himself be pulled towards him as the "blow" turned into a grab instead. He could hear Heero start to explain what he was doing as they moved into this less-than-conventional part of the demo. Some of this stuff was what he'd taught in those self-defence classes. Really dirty fighting that didn't necessarily require a lot of skill and was basically designed to temporarily incapacitate your attacker while you ran like hell. Which was why Heero was explaining it, because despite the fact that Fei was wearing a certain amount of safety gear, they could only semi-demonstrate most of this, having to fake the actions and response for the most part. At least this part would give him a chance to catch his breath since they were slowing things down in order to let the group see exactly what was going on.
Even through the padding wrapped around his shins, Wufei could feel Duo's boot heel scraping down the front of his shin. 'That would be *very* painful without the padding,' he winced. The front of a shin had no real fat layer for protection, meaning that the pressure from the heel was transferred virtually directly to bone. When he and Duo had worked this demo out earlier this morning, he had been surprised just how much someone held in classic "hostage" position - back to attacker's chest, arm around neck - could *do*. Smash the attacker's nose with a hard toss of the head. Bite the attacker's arm. Scrape a heel down the attacker's shin, hard, then follow up by grinding the heel into the attacker's toes. He'd been a bit surprised to discover that even if face-to-face, a knee to the groin was generally considered an error - it left the person doing it off-balance and easily taken down as well as being easily blocked by a simple twist of the hips or shift of one leg - and that the alternative move had the advantage of working in this back-to-chest position as well. He wouldn't be surprised to see the men in the audience suddenly crossing their legs protectively after this one.
Duo's hand reached back between them, seemingly pinned and ineffective. Except that it *wasn't*. It had more than enough manoeuvring room to reach down and grab - in *this* case, only grabbing cloth, though the real move would grab considerably more - pull, and *twist*. Hard. Wufei loosened his grip and drew back, doubling over slightly in a convincing response to Duo's move, leaving Duo more than enough space to twist around and go for the eyes with extended fingers. He pulled the blow well clear of Wufei's face - too far clear to look convincing, really, but Duo had stood firm in his insistence that there was no way he was taking a chance on seriously hurting Wufei just for the sake of a demo. Wufei completely released Duo as he raised his hands to his face in response. By the time he dropped his hands again, Duo was on the far side of the room, commenting, "And for the final move, you run like *hell*."
Duo grinned at the number of crossed legs and hands laying protectively over laps after that little piece of the demonstration. It *was* a particularly nasty little move if done correctly. And even if it wasn't, it was still less hazardous than lifting a leg completely off the ground and well into the air to try kneeing the groin area. He felt his chest tighten and decided not to offer any further comments of his own. Holding off a cough was becoming harder by the minute. And he was *really* getting hot. Apparently fever and exercise were not a particularly good combination. The ibuprofen was either wearing off or unable to handle the fever now that he'd heated his body up with exercise. At least that was the last demo for *this* group. Hopefully, if he dosed himself up again at lunch, he'd make it through the afternoon group okay too.
***
Struggling not to cough, Duo looked at the clock and worried. He hadn't had a chance to take any more medication. Several of the top-ranking personnel from the branch office had taken the three of them out to dinner and he hadn't been able to slip off to take the medication before they went out. Now here they were, back again, the next group already waiting for them to start, and he *still* hadn't found the opportunity to dose up on cough suppressant and ibuprofen. He was hot, tired, short of breath, and his head hurt like hell. And he was starting to feel a bit light-headed again. None of which boded too well for getting through this session as well as he had the previous one. The question was, what should he do. Try to do it and hope he didn't screw up? Or 'fess up that he was feeling ill and sit this out?
But at this stage, it was a little late to change plans. If he didn't take part, Fei and Heero would have to rework everything on-the-fly. If he'd warned them earlier on that he might not make it through, they could have had a backup plan in place. Hell, if he'd confessed earlier, they wouldn't *need* a backup plan because if they'd even let him take part they wouldn't have let him do quite as much and he wouldn't be in such rough shape. Not to mention he wouldn't have had to worry about trying to sneak medication; he could have simply taken it openly. 'Too late now, Maxwell. Now you're not only going to look weak for getting sick, you're going to look like an idiot for hiding it.' At least he'd deserve the idiot part.
Duo hesitated, then, while Heero was explaining the first demo - facing two opponents - he slipped over to Wufei and *partially* confessed. "Fei, I'm kinda running out of steam. Dunno if I'm going to be able to get through all three demos this time, so that last one of ours might not work out..."
Wufei turned his head sharply, taking a good look at Duo. Looking for the signs that he'd noticed earlier and ended up deciding he'd imagined. Shit. He hadn't. And they were worse. He laid his hand against Duo's forehead and swore. "You're burning up! Duo, you can't..."
But Duo wasn't paying any attention. He'd already pulled away and headed towards where Heero was waiting. Unwilling to make a scene, Wufei followed. He'd just have to hope that they could get through this portion of the session okay. Then since *he* was supposed to do the intro to the next session, he'd just change it and make it a standard sparring demo between Heero and himself, something they'd done enough times before that the lack of a rehearsal shouldn't matter. And he would do that whether Duo agreed or not. Because although he'd made a mistake in not confronting Duo about his suspicions earlier, Duo shouldn't have tried to hide this from them. They were supposed to be trying to build a relationship and relationships required trust and communication from *all* parties involved.
Heero's brow furrowed as the demo commenced. Wufei seemed distracted. And Duo - Duo seemed a bit off. His response times were down even more than earlier. Nothing that Heero couldn't compensate for, but... Something was definitely wrong here. He continued through the routine that they'd planned, but the flow wasn't there. Not like in practice or in the morning session. Both of his "opponents" were very slightly out of position on most of the moves. The timing was slightly off. 'What the hell is going on here?' he wondered, pulling a punch that was far too close to actually hitting.
Wufei fought with half his mind on his own moves and the other half on Duo. Attention divided between blocking and dodging Heero's blows and keeping an eye on Duo. Making sure that he was okay. And because of that, he saw/heard the choked-off cough as Duo faltered slightly, recovered, then was wracked by a coughing fit at the worst possible time. Saw Heero try to pull his kick. Realized that Duo was so far out of position that Heero couldn't completely avoid hitting him with most of the force still behind it. And *moved*, shoving Duo out of the way just in time to catch the kick himself with his guard completely down.
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< br>
Title: Winning Duo
Chapter: 26/?
Author: Calic0cat <calic0cat@fastmail.fm>
Story Started: Jan. 2003
Genre: Yaoi, Romance, Humour, Angst
Pairings: Working towards 1x2x5; 3x4; 6x9; others may be implied
Rated: R
Warnings: OOC, Swearing, Shifting POV, Threesome
Archives: At Mediaminer.org under Calic0cat. Anyone with archive permission for my other fics can help themselves; anyone else, please ask.
Disclaimer: Duo and Heero and the rest of the GW gang aren't mine. This story is. Nuff said.
Notes: Starts one year after Endless Waltz. POV changes frequently.
'Thinking'
"Speaking"
*** Time passing or scene change
Author's Notes: I usually write 1x2x1, so a 1x2x5 is a first for me (well, writing one is - I've been reading them for quite a while now, that's the *only* threesome I actually *like*). Feedback is appreciated.
#################################################
Duo grimly measured out the maximum dose of cough suppressant and downed it with a grimace. Yuck. He *hated* taking medication. And *this* stuff - well, this stuff was just *gross*. But the pharmacist swore it was the most effective cough medicine he had. 'Ugh! "Been around for years," he says. "You'll get better just to avoid having to take it," he says. Didn't realize he wasn't fucking *joking*!' Duo thought, gagging. He recapped the bottle of Buckley's hastily and stuffed it into his duffle bag. God, that stuff was awful. Though it *did* seem to do the trick. He'd got through the night without coughing - or at least, without coughing enough to wake up Heero or Wufei at any rate.
He checked the time - still too early. Damn. Duo perched on the edge of the bathtub, waiting. He'd managed to be in bed and "asleep" last night before Wufei and Heero joined him, thus dodging the whole goodnight kiss issue. And this morning, he'd joked about having terrible morning breath and fled to get ready. Now, he just needed to kill enough time to be running late so that they wouldn't be thinking about a good morning kiss. He felt kind of bad about dodging the kisses, but he really did *not* want to give whatever he had to Wufei or Heero.
Of course, he felt even *worse* about hiding the whole getting-sick thing from them to start with, but he just couldn't bring himself to wreck the plans for the demos *or* to let them find out he was so pathetic he couldn't handle getting wet and chilled without getting sick. 'I just... can't. But if I keep dodging kissing them... Shit. They're gonna end up thinking I'm mad or something...' Duo thought unhappily. Obviously, he couldn't keep up the facade for long. The question was, how long *could* he safely keep the fact that he was feeling a little under the weather a secret?
'Okay, there's pretty much no chance either of them will be expecting kisses in public, so things should be cool right through the demos. But afterwards... I guess... I guess if I'm still feeling lousy, I'll have to 'fess up. I don't want to give them the wrong impression with the whole not-kissing thing, and I don't think I'd better let it go past the twenty-four hour mark or I *will*...' he decided with a sigh.
Duo was pretty sure that he *could* get through the demos okay. Yeah, he was starting to get a little short of breath, but the cough medicine was keeping the cough itself at bay. And his head hurt, but the ibuprofen should take care of that shortly, and it wasn't like he was actually getting dizzy or anything. The fever - well, the ibuprofen should handle that too and it wasn't all *that* high, or at least he didn't *think* it was. He'd forgot to pick up a thermometer while he was at the drugstore.
Duo checked his watch again. Just a few more minutes...
***
Heero frowned and checked his watch. It wasn't like Duo to be this late. And he had seemed so eager to help out with the demos...
Wufei was getting worried. Well, not really *getting* worried, he'd *been* worried ever since he woke up to realize that either someone had turned the heat *way* up last night or one of his bedmates - namely Duo - was putting out an awful lot of body heat. When he put that together with Duo's coughing spell at the game last night... and the rather long time it seemed to have taken him to just pick up a wrist brace from the drugstore... and that half-awake memory of hearing coughing in the night... and the way Duo had dodged kissing them last night and this morning... 'He's sick. He *must* be. But if I say something and I'm wrong, he's going to think that I still think he's weak... Even though I know better and I've *told* him that...
'And even if I'm right, he'll think that because that's the only reason that he would have for hiding being sick in the first place... So I *can't* say anything without hurting his feelings. But if I *don't* say anything and he overdoes things today and gets *really* sick...' Wufei massaged the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on.
He was stuck. Caught in the trap of his past insults again. Regardless of the fact that he was motivated by love and concern for Duo, saying anything to imply that he believed Duo was ill was almost certain to be interpreted as criticism. So he *couldn't* say anything. 'I'll just have to keep a close eye on him,' Wufei decided reluctantly. 'And maybe warn Heero?' He'd hesitated too long, however, and Duo was hurrying into the room, apologizing for being so pokey and sweeping them out the door and on their way without so much as a good morning kiss. And without Wufei getting a chance to mention his very strong suspicion to Heero.
***
Duo enthusiastically dove into the rehearsal of the planned demo. They'd been able to get practice weapons from the branch office's training facility and while the balance on them was kinda weird, having "knives" to fight with - even if they *were* little more than rubber - definitely added to the realism level. 'Maybe it was just the twenty-four hour flu and I'm almost over it,' he thought hopefully. It had been an hour, maybe two, since he took the medication and he was feeling pretty good right now. No headache, not too light-headed, very little urge to cough. Still a little short of breath, but hey, that was only to be expected. He hadn't done this kind of thing in a while, after all. Teaching a few self-defence classes at the local women's shelter as a favour to one of Hilde's friends was a far cry from sparring with Heero or Fei.
Watching Duo rehearse the first demo with Heero, Wufei had to admit maybe he was wrong. Duo certainly didn't *act* sick right now. 'God, he's gorgeous,' Wufei thought as he watched Duo ducking and whirling to sweep Heero's legs while he was still re-balancing from the kick he'd just thrown. 'So vibrant. Graceful. And he's still so damn *fast*...' Despite himself, Wufei found his gaze drifting to Heero as well, noting the power and strength that was so clearly present. The well-defined muscles and tight... 'Stop that, Chang!' he scolded himself automatically. 'You love *Duo*. *Heero* loves Duo. You should *not* be ogling Heero... What would Duo think if he caught you?'
Actually, Duo would probably grin and ask what took him so long, Wufei realized abruptly. 'If anyone would understand, it would be him. I have no problem believing that he cares for Heero and myself equally deeply. That he loves us, even though he hasn't quite come out and said so since that first indirect admission at the amusement park. Would it be so unbelievable that one or both of us would learn to love the other as well?
'I don't know if I feel as deeply for Heero as for Duo... I haven't really let myself *think* about it. But I do care for him and like to see him happy... And he's definitely very attractive...' Obviously, he was going to *have* to think about this a little - no, a *lot* - more. But if he *did* discover that he felt more for Heero, or could *learn* to feel more for him... and if Heero was willing... Would Duo mind sharing Heero with Wufei as well as Wufei and Heero sharing him? 'Probably not,' Wufei decided, mind only half on the rehearsing pair in front of him. 'As long as he truly believes that we love him...'
And there lay the catch. If Duo *was* feeling ill - hard though that was to believe watching him right now - and was keeping it a secret because he feared they would think him weak - well, Wufei had to wonder whether Duo really *did* believe them yet. Whether he ever *would* genuinely, deep-down, *believe* that they loved him. Or whether the damage caused by their past words and actions ran too deep to be overcome, no matter how much Duo *wanted* to believe them and to trust their love for him.
***
Heero stood to one side and watched as Duo and Wufei ran through their portion of the demo for the first group of agents. It was hard to be sure, but it seemed like Duo's reaction times were maybe just a touch slower than when they had rehearsed their own demo earlier. But then, that shouldn't be too surprising. After all, Duo himself had admitted that he hadn't really had a good sparring session since the war. The types of exercise that he *had* engaged in had been sufficient to maintain his physical condition, but there was no real substitute for the real thing.
'He just doesn't have the same degree of conditioning. That will come back with practice. I should have thought of that when we were rehearsing, though, and stopped after just one run-through. There wasn't much time between our second practice run and the start of the actual demo. At least the break for lunch should be long enough for him to recover and be ready to go again this afternoon,' Heero thought.
Heero's attention slid over to Wufei for a few moments. He hadn't missed the way Wufei had been watching him this morning. That didn't mean that he *understood* it - but then, he wasn't sure that Wufei understood it either. There seemed to be a fair amount of confusion in those dark eyes while they watched him. Along with a mixture of interest... appreciation... and maybe even a hint of - well, lust? Attraction at the very least. And when he put that together with the sort of caring/interested looks that Wufei had been sneaking last night... He ended up with something suspiciously similar to his *own* mixed-up feelings towards Wufei. Those feelings of part-caring, part-attraction that didn't quite match his feelings for Duo but came a little too close for comfort. Feelings that he had *no* idea what the hell he was going to do about.
Duo blocked a blow from Wufei and let himself be pulled towards him as the "blow" turned into a grab instead. He could hear Heero start to explain what he was doing as they moved into this less-than-conventional part of the demo. Some of this stuff was what he'd taught in those self-defence classes. Really dirty fighting that didn't necessarily require a lot of skill and was basically designed to temporarily incapacitate your attacker while you ran like hell. Which was why Heero was explaining it, because despite the fact that Fei was wearing a certain amount of safety gear, they could only semi-demonstrate most of this, having to fake the actions and response for the most part. At least this part would give him a chance to catch his breath since they were slowing things down in order to let the group see exactly what was going on.
Even through the padding wrapped around his shins, Wufei could feel Duo's boot heel scraping down the front of his shin. 'That would be *very* painful without the padding,' he winced. The front of a shin had no real fat layer for protection, meaning that the pressure from the heel was transferred virtually directly to bone. When he and Duo had worked this demo out earlier this morning, he had been surprised just how much someone held in classic "hostage" position - back to attacker's chest, arm around neck - could *do*. Smash the attacker's nose with a hard toss of the head. Bite the attacker's arm. Scrape a heel down the attacker's shin, hard, then follow up by grinding the heel into the attacker's toes. He'd been a bit surprised to discover that even if face-to-face, a knee to the groin was generally considered an error - it left the person doing it off-balance and easily taken down as well as being easily blocked by a simple twist of the hips or shift of one leg - and that the alternative move had the advantage of working in this back-to-chest position as well. He wouldn't be surprised to see the men in the audience suddenly crossing their legs protectively after this one.
Duo's hand reached back between them, seemingly pinned and ineffective. Except that it *wasn't*. It had more than enough manoeuvring room to reach down and grab - in *this* case, only grabbing cloth, though the real move would grab considerably more - pull, and *twist*. Hard. Wufei loosened his grip and drew back, doubling over slightly in a convincing response to Duo's move, leaving Duo more than enough space to twist around and go for the eyes with extended fingers. He pulled the blow well clear of Wufei's face - too far clear to look convincing, really, but Duo had stood firm in his insistence that there was no way he was taking a chance on seriously hurting Wufei just for the sake of a demo. Wufei completely released Duo as he raised his hands to his face in response. By the time he dropped his hands again, Duo was on the far side of the room, commenting, "And for the final move, you run like *hell*."
Duo grinned at the number of crossed legs and hands laying protectively over laps after that little piece of the demonstration. It *was* a particularly nasty little move if done correctly. And even if it wasn't, it was still less hazardous than lifting a leg completely off the ground and well into the air to try kneeing the groin area. He felt his chest tighten and decided not to offer any further comments of his own. Holding off a cough was becoming harder by the minute. And he was *really* getting hot. Apparently fever and exercise were not a particularly good combination. The ibuprofen was either wearing off or unable to handle the fever now that he'd heated his body up with exercise. At least that was the last demo for *this* group. Hopefully, if he dosed himself up again at lunch, he'd make it through the afternoon group okay too.
***
Struggling not to cough, Duo looked at the clock and worried. He hadn't had a chance to take any more medication. Several of the top-ranking personnel from the branch office had taken the three of them out to dinner and he hadn't been able to slip off to take the medication before they went out. Now here they were, back again, the next group already waiting for them to start, and he *still* hadn't found the opportunity to dose up on cough suppressant and ibuprofen. He was hot, tired, short of breath, and his head hurt like hell. And he was starting to feel a bit light-headed again. None of which boded too well for getting through this session as well as he had the previous one. The question was, what should he do. Try to do it and hope he didn't screw up? Or 'fess up that he was feeling ill and sit this out?
But at this stage, it was a little late to change plans. If he didn't take part, Fei and Heero would have to rework everything on-the-fly. If he'd warned them earlier on that he might not make it through, they could have had a backup plan in place. Hell, if he'd confessed earlier, they wouldn't *need* a backup plan because if they'd even let him take part they wouldn't have let him do quite as much and he wouldn't be in such rough shape. Not to mention he wouldn't have had to worry about trying to sneak medication; he could have simply taken it openly. 'Too late now, Maxwell. Now you're not only going to look weak for getting sick, you're going to look like an idiot for hiding it.' At least he'd deserve the idiot part.
Duo hesitated, then, while Heero was explaining the first demo - facing two opponents - he slipped over to Wufei and *partially* confessed. "Fei, I'm kinda running out of steam. Dunno if I'm going to be able to get through all three demos this time, so that last one of ours might not work out..."
Wufei turned his head sharply, taking a good look at Duo. Looking for the signs that he'd noticed earlier and ended up deciding he'd imagined. Shit. He hadn't. And they were worse. He laid his hand against Duo's forehead and swore. "You're burning up! Duo, you can't..."
But Duo wasn't paying any attention. He'd already pulled away and headed towards where Heero was waiting. Unwilling to make a scene, Wufei followed. He'd just have to hope that they could get through this portion of the session okay. Then since *he* was supposed to do the intro to the next session, he'd just change it and make it a standard sparring demo between Heero and himself, something they'd done enough times before that the lack of a rehearsal shouldn't matter. And he would do that whether Duo agreed or not. Because although he'd made a mistake in not confronting Duo about his suspicions earlier, Duo shouldn't have tried to hide this from them. They were supposed to be trying to build a relationship and relationships required trust and communication from *all* parties involved.
Heero's brow furrowed as the demo commenced. Wufei seemed distracted. And Duo - Duo seemed a bit off. His response times were down even more than earlier. Nothing that Heero couldn't compensate for, but... Something was definitely wrong here. He continued through the routine that they'd planned, but the flow wasn't there. Not like in practice or in the morning session. Both of his "opponents" were very slightly out of position on most of the moves. The timing was slightly off. 'What the hell is going on here?' he wondered, pulling a punch that was far too close to actually hitting.
Wufei fought with half his mind on his own moves and the other half on Duo. Attention divided between blocking and dodging Heero's blows and keeping an eye on Duo. Making sure that he was okay. And because of that, he saw/heard the choked-off cough as Duo faltered slightly, recovered, then was wracked by a coughing fit at the worst possible time. Saw Heero try to pull his kick. Realized that Duo was so far out of position that Heero couldn't completely avoid hitting him with most of the force still behind it. And *moved*, shoving Duo out of the way just in time to catch the kick himself with his guard completely down.
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