Once again, Heero found himself hiding in the corner, his arms wrapped tightly around his knees, fighting back the urge to cry. Crying was one of the most obvious shows of emotion, and he knew that it would give away his position. He couldn't risk letting Duo find him. Not now. As he began to nurse his newest collection of wounds, Heero couldn't help but ask himself why he continued to stay with Duo. The answer was love.
Somehow, even after the constant beatings, the threats to end his life if he ever told anyone why he was always bruised and his skin always cut, the reality that he was but a second to Wufei, and the fact that Duo had pledged to kill him if he ever showed even the slightest bit of emotion, Heero loved Duo. He couldn't say why and he couldn't say how, but deep down he knew that it was this love, combined with fear, which keep him from leaving. There was just something about Duo's laugh and his smile. Something about the pilot that was very unique. Heero also felt that, at least when he was sober, Duo loved him too.
That aside, Duo wasn't sober and he was
looking for Heero. He heard Duo's voice calling for him to come out, saying
that he was sorry and that all he wanted to do was talk. Luckily for Heero,
although his mind would have been quick to oblige, his body was not. Heero
stayed tucked in the dark corner as Duo searched for him. He dared not to move
or make any sound other than that which is the result of breathing, and even
stopped to consider how long he could go without doing that. Soon after Duo had
left the warehouse, Heero heard a new voice calling to him. It belonged to
Relena, the only other person who knew of his constant abuse. Confident that
she could be trusted, Heero rose from his hiding place.
Sensing movement Relena approached one of the corners of the warehouse. As she did, she noticed Heero, half standing, motioning silently for her to come. The closer she got, the more obvious Heero's wounds became. His shirt was blood stained, cuts lined his pale, thin face, and bruises ran the entire lengths of his arms. When she finally did reach him, having no conscious knowledge of what she would say, she just looked Heero in the eyes and began,
"Oh Heero! Why have you let this happen? You can't just serve as Duo's
personal slave forever, his own personal hooker one day and a punching bag the
next. Please Heero, for me... You must leave now and give Duo what he deserves
when he isn't expecting it. I'll hold him off just go......." And with that she
was gone. She ran out into the rain screaming for Duo at the top of her lungs.
Heero, meanwhile, was attempting to escape, and swore to himself that if Relena
was hurt he would go after Duo, then and there. Heero found himself on a roof
top, and hearing what sounded like an argument, looked to the street below.
"YOU BASTARD!!!!"
Relena shrieked at the top of her lungs. "How can you just go
on hurting Heero like that?! And telling him not to show any emotion
whatsoever?! Are you just planning on beating him untill
he dies? Please Duo, the war is over, you have to stop with the killing!!!" Duo
just stood there across from Relena, his face hard and cold. Heero cowered on
the roof, wishing that someone would speak. Finally, Duo broke the deafening
silence:
"You damn pacifists..." Duo began slowly, the alcohol making coherent speech
hard to come by, "if you don't like killing than you shouldn't go around
killing 'ur own freakin'
brain cells." Relena just stood there staring at Duo, the rain running down her
face. She couldn't believe that even Duo would pick this time to try and be
funny. Before she could stop herself, Relena yelled one more thing at Duo:
"Listen to me Duo!!!! I don't know if this all seems like a game to you, but it
isn't. Now either you leave Heero alone, or I tell Wufei about him, and I'm
sure y--" Her words had not even finished leaving her mouth when the bullet
flew across the distance that separated the two and pierced through Relena's side.
Not even waiting for her body to hit the
ground, Duo turned. As he headed for the end of the street, Duo looked back at Relena's dying body, mouthed the words "game over", and
continued walking. Heero, revenge the only thing he could think of, watched
Duo's every step and moved from roof top to roof top, waiting for the perfect
moment to strike. As Duo turned the corner he met Wufei, who after engaging in
a passionate kiss with the braided boy, went to get their car.
Heero quickly made his way to the street
below. Jumping to the pavement, he reached down to his hand and forced the
bondage ring off of his finger. He than took careful aim, and with all of his
strength pegged Duo in the back of the head. The force of the ring's impact
left Duo momentarily stunned. Heero took advantage of this time and snuck up
behind him. Coming back to his senses, Duo spun around, just in time to meet
Heero's fist with his stomach. Shocked that Heero of all people had attacked
him, Duo allowed himself to be pushed to the ground. Before fleeing into the
night Heero grabbed Duo's belt, and began whipping him with it, screaming "HOW
DO YOU LIKE IT, YOU BASTARD!!!" at the top of his lungs.
As Wufei pulled up, he saw Duo
laying there in the street and immediately got out of the car and ran to his
side. "Duo what happened.........Who did this to you?!" Wufei demanded, and
before passing out in Wufie's arms Duo managed to
blurt the name Heero in reply. After hearing his now unconscious friend's
answer, he scooped Duo up in his arms and carried him to the car. Placing him
gently in the backseat, and himself in the front,
Wufei drove off to look for Heero.
The dock was one of Trowa and Quatre's favorite places to sneak out to during the night,
and that's where they found Relena. Quatre was the first member of the pair to
see her. He dragged Trowa to her side and the two of them carried her into a
nearby warehouse. Once inside of the warehouse, the pair immediately set to
work removing the bullet from Relena's side. After
the bullet was removed, Trowa set to work bandaging the wound. Suddenly, an
interesting idea came to Quatre and he started jumping up and down in response.
"Trowa! Trowa!"
he shrieked, "When Relena comes to can we let her join us so that she'll be
able to take her mind off of the pain? Huh, huh, can we? Please, Trowa? It'll
be fun. Plus, she looks kinda lonely....So can we Trowa... Whatdaya say, huh,
huh?" After making himself promise to cut Quatre off from his sugar supply for
at least a few days, he looked into the blond pilot's eyes and said,
"I suppose Relena can join us if it's what she wants to do. Although, I am kind
of hoping she will say yes, so why don't you go get another tube of lubricant.
We may find it in our best interest." And with that Quatre, like a well trained
dog, happily ran off to fetch more lubricant.
Wufei finally reached Heero's apartment. Leaving a still unconscious Duo in the back seat, he stormed into the building and up the stairs. After knocking down the door, Wufei found Heero hastily packing his suitcase. Though he been to preoccupied to notice his door being kicked in, Heero was quick to notice the death glare Wufei was giving him. He immediately stopped packing and looked up. As Wufei began to walk closer to Heero, he curled up in the fetal position and began to cry.
"I'm sorry Wufei!" Heero began rambling through his tears, "I never meant to hurt anyone. It's just that Duo was so abusive towards me and when Relena tried to get him to stop she ended up shot in the street! He never even would let me show emotion.....I don't know why I stayed with him. Why I still love him......Just please don't kill me, don't kill me please.." Suddenly Wufei's expression softened.
He knelt down beside Heero and after
wiping the tears from his eyes started to speak, a kind, sincere tone in his
voice,
"Oh Heero! Don't blow a nut. If I had only known......I would never have let
Duo hurt you. For you see, we have more in common than you would think. Duo has
also been trying to control me. I've been spoon fed all of that chauvinistic
crap for as long as I've known him. Seems he was called a girl one to many times. And Heero, if you want, I would like you to stay
with me. I promise I won't neglect you, or ever allow anyone harm you." When
Wufei finished speaking Heero looked up into his eyes momentarily before
bounding to his feet and screaming his acceptance,
"DUDE!!! That's awesome!!!" Was all Heero could manage, but Wufei got the
point. He wrapped his arms around Heero, swearing that he would keep his
promise and never let anyone hurt him again. Finally, Heero broke away from the
long embrace, and starring in to Wufei's dark eyes, and began to speak, "Hey,
Wu, why is it that Duo couldn't just have been nice to us. I mean, with the
exception of tonight, I had never even struck him once."
As Wufei opened his mouth to reply, Duo
appeared in the door way. He stared at the two cowering pilots, and began to
answer Heero's question,
"When you're nice to people they go away. Everyone I ever cared for openly or
showed compassion towards left me. I was so afraid of either of you leaving
that-" Duo stopped speaking for a moment, than looking Wufei strait in the
eyes, and then Heero, continued "Just please forgive me. Please....." Almost
immediately after he had stopped speaking, Wufei and Heero stood up, walked
across the room, and placed the door back on its hinges. Forgiveness was going
to require the optimum level of privacy.
The desk clerks down in the lobby were
swamped with calls complaining about the noise coming from Heero's apartment.
"He's the loudest damn tenant in the whole building!" one clerk exclaimed.
"You mean they are the loudest." Another corrected him. "I saw two men
entering his room earlier. When the three of them are finished up there we need
to send house keeping to box his things. It appears, that for whatever they
plan to do, Mr. Yuy and his friends will need a bit
more soundproofing."